T W G : Design Journal

FIELD TRIP: FOCUS ON FRANK GEHRY

Kirsten Honeyman with Frank Gehry's "Rose for Lilly" at the Disney Concert Hall in L.A.

Photo - Kimberly Dougherty

Regular readers of the Design Journal will have noticed a lack of activity on the blog of late. Kirsten Honeyman, our blog author has been focusing her full attention on the firm's first interior design book, Inner Spaces, to be published in 2014. Kirsten is part of a team that includes TWG President Paul Wiseman; CEO Kevin Peters; Design Principals James Hunter, Brenda Mickel, and Mauricio Munoz; staff members Chase Roberson and Carrie Swing; author Brian Coleman; and photographer Matthew Millman. The team has been working furiously -- selecting photographs, supplying information about projects, providing design input, and reviewing the manuscript -- to meet deadlines for publisher Gibbs Smith. Everyone is pleased with the progress, and the finished book promises to be a wonderful exploration of the firm's work. There are many exciting aspects of the book project (more on that later), but one of the most thrilling is the contribution of a foreword by Frank O. Gehry, arguably the world's most famous living architect.

A façade of the Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California
Photo - Kirsten Honeyman


With Gehry so much in the forefront of the team's consciousness, Kirsten decided to make two excursions to experience the master’s work. First stop: Gehry's acclaimed Disney Concert Hall. Paul Goldberger, currently a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair and previously the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker (1997 through 2011), has described the hall as “surely the most distinguished building” in downtown Los Angeles. “The auditorium is the finest interior Gehry has ever made," Goldberger opined in 2003, noting that the “shape of the hall and its warm rich wood, suggest a musical instrument.” Kirsten was not able to tour the interior of the concert hall, as there was a matinée being performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but she did capture several images of the building's exterior. She enjoyed roaming the hall's interior public spaces as well as strolling around the perimeter of the building.

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman

Photo - Kirsten Honeyman


Kirsten was completely humbled by her second stop at the Stone Photography Studio in Davis, California. Recently retired from careers as mental health professionals, Andrea and Rob Stone have turned their avid interest in photography into a second career. Andrea has created a portfolio of photographs called the "City Reflections Project," which has been published in three international publications. Many of these large-scale images were taken at Gehry's Experience Music Project in Seattle.

Frank G Interpreted #2
Photo - Andrea Stone

The Bishop
Photo - Andrea Stone


In Gehry's highly reflective metal surfaces, Andrea's artful eye has composed and captured "paintings." She has taken the experience of Gehry's architecture in a wonderful and unexpected direction; her images offer a unique avenue for enjoying Gehry's work -- one that the architect himself might not have foreseen!

Luminosity
Photo - Andrea Stone

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