Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100ers who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Today: celebrated architect Frank Gehry.
Frank Gehry
Category Originators
Industry Architecture
Company Gehry Partners, LLP
What MADE Him Haute For all the artistic flourishes of his ideas, Gehry’s architecture works in the most practical and fundamental way. When the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, it was quickly recognized as perhaps his greatest work, for reasons first and foremost of functionality. The acoustics of the hall were widely praised, not least by the musicians, and it became one of the great performance venues in the world, and not just for its acoustics; it’s a symbol of downtown Los Angeles as a center of culture.
What Makes Him Haute Now: He may be 81 years old, but he’s not slowing down in the slightest, and his work continues to be celebrated across the country and around the globe. In Miami, his design for the new home of the New World Symphony is under construction, with the first shows expected to be held in the hall next January. In Washington D.C., one of four of his designs was selected just last week for the Eisenhower Memorial, which will occupy a four-acre site at the base of Capitol Hill. He also just unveiled his new building in Las Vegas for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Centre for Brain Health, described as a swirling, crumpled stainless steel structure that will house a brain-research center amidst the chaos of the Strip.
