FRANK O. GEHRY & ASSOCIATES

Frank Gehry established the architecture firm of Frank O. Gehry & Associates in 1962. Since that time, Frank O. Gehry & Associates has grown into a full service firm with broad international experience in museum, theater, performance, institutional, commercial and residential projects. The three Principals of the firm, Frank Gehry, James Glymph, and Randy Jefferson, work as a team in the development of all projects undertaken by the firm, with Frank Gehry working as Design Principal and James Glymph and Randy Jefferson complementing his work with their extensive experience in project management and in the development of technical systems.
At the heart of the firm's approach to design is a process which has developed over many years, in which the client is brought fully into the design process as part of the design team, making the design a true working collaboration between the firm and the client.
The design process is based on extensive physical modeling at multiple scales. The models explore both the functional and sculptural aspects of the project in a medium understood by designers and laymen alike. Very early in the process, actual building materials and large scale mock-ups are employed to promote understanding of the design. Working simultaneously with materials and systems at the detail level and with the formal image at the urban scale, the project evolves in response to the programmatic and budgetary goals defined by the client. The combination of model building and mock-up capabilities, materials research, and the application of advanced computer systems and construction techniques allows Frank O. Gehry & Associates to develop designs, in a rational process, that reach beyond the traditional limits of architecture.
Located in Santa Monica, California, the architecture studio has a staff of over 140 people, which includes a group of senior architects who are highly qualified in project management and in the technical development of building systems and construction documents, as well as extensive model-making facilities and a model building staff capable of executing everything from scale architectural models to full size mock-ups. The firm employs a network of sophisticated computer aided design workstations in the development of projects and in the translation of design ideas into the technical documents required for construction. The firm uses CATIA, a 3-dimensional computer modeling program originally designed for the aerospace industry. This program is supplemented by more traditional 2-dimensional CAD programs.
Recent and current projects include: the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain; the DG Bank Building, a mixed-use building adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany; Der Neue Zollhof, an office complex in DŸsseldorf, Germany; the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington; the Bard College Center for the Performing Arts in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; the Peter B. Lewis Campus of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio; the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Millennium Park Music Pavilion and Great Lawn in Chicago, Illinois; the Corcoran Gallery and School of Art in Washington, DC; the Marques de Riscal Winery in Elciego, Spain; Maggie's Centre, a cancer patient care center in Dundee, Scotland; the Team Disneyland Administration Building in Anaheim, California; the Nationale-Nederlanden Building in Prague, Czech Republic; the EMR Communication and Technology Center in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany; the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts in Toledo, Ohio; the Vila Olimpica Retail and Commercial Complex in Barcelona, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; the American Center in Paris, France; the Chiat/Day Office Building in Venice, California; the Vitra International Furniture Museum and Factory in Weil am Rhein, Germany; and the Vitra International Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.