The world ofarchitecture has lost one of its most daring figures. Frank Gehry, the visionary architect—Canadian by birth, American at heart— passed away on December 5, 2025, in Santa Monica, at the age of 96, following a short respiratory illness.
Long known as Frank Goldberg, born in Toronto in 1929, Gehry matured his vocation in California after studying at the University of Southern California. His career, modest at first—social housing, shopping centers—took a spectacular turn when he dared to remodel his own bungalow into a livable sculpture. This bold gesture marked the beginning of a subversive and liberating body of work.
What has become legendary above all else are his monumental buildings, sculptural works of art. Who could forget the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao —with its fluid, airy lines—which triggered the famous "Bilbao effect," transforming the city and inspiring generations of architects around the world? Or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, a temple of metal and curves, shining like a sculpture in the Californian light. Not to mention the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris—proof that his audacity transcended continents.
But Gehry is not just about spectacular buildings. He represents a formal and technical revolution: in the 1980s and 1990s, he embraced the potential of 3D software, propelling architecture into a new era where previously unthinkable forms could be designed... and built.
Beyond towers, museums, and concert halls, he truly redefined what a building can be—a living object, a piece of art, a dream of metal and light set against the urban skyline. Today, he leaves behind not only his works, but also a way of thinking about space, matter, and emotion.
Today, even though Frank Gehry is no longer with us, his curves will continue to dance for centuries to come.
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