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Print Size 11" x 14" (Frame 16" x 20") Architect: Frank Gehry - Photographer Trent Nichols
Detail of billowing stainless steel walls.
In 1987 the relatively unknown Frank Gehry won the competition for a 2,265-seat concert hall to which the Disney family contributed $100 million and its name. The architect’s first major public commission in his adopted hometown, it was here that Gehry introduced the complex computer modeled contours that would become his signature. The billowing forms – all unique – are clad in more than 49 miles of matte finish stainless steel, softly sanded in key areas to reduce unwanted glare. Were it not for the 1994 earthquake, the building would have been clad in white limestone according to original plans. The concert hall opened in 2003 after 16 years and more than 30,000 drawings. Quickly embraced by popular culture, it has frequently appeared in films and television shows, including an episode of “The Simpsons” in 2005 (Mr. Burns turned the concert hall into a prison!).
