Renowned Canadian/American architect Frank Gehry’s latest creation has just opened its doors to the public, and it is a stunner as you’d expect from him. Resembling something like a crumpled paper bag, hence its nickname, the University of Technology Sydney’s business school draws its inspiration from renaissance artists and architects, according to its creator.
According to the 85-year old Mr. Gehry, the architects of that era were always fascinated with folds in the skin and folds in clothing. “The fold is primitive, you’re in your mother’s arms when you’re a child, and so we tried to do that with brick,” he said as he explained his approach to curves and folds in the design of his new building.
The Dr Chau Chak Wing building, named after Chinese businessman Dr Chau Chak Wing, and his $20 million donation to the project, is made up from more than 320,000 hand-placed bricks and glass slabs, and cost a $180 million to build. Inside, traditional lecture halls have been replaced with undulating walls, circular classrooms and a grand chrome-silver staircase.
“It’s the idea that you can humanise a building,” said Gehry.
Mr. Gehry also took his inspiration from Sydney’s colonial sandstone buildings and chose to work in amber-coloured brick as a tribute to that culture. “The 19th-century buildings in Sydney are the most accessible. They have a humanity while the modern buildings tend to be cold and off-putting,” Gehry said.
The building also got the thumbs-up from the governor general Peter Cosgrove, who called it “the most beautiful squashed brown paper bag I’ve ever seen”.
Frank Gehry is responsible for creating some of the world’s most recognisable buildings, including the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.
