(continued)

Gehry describes the goal of any project as "the object of desire," which springs readily from his sculptor sense. Some might find this an uncomfortable term, because it seems to reduce architecture to icon: an image captured, manipulated, and marketed to an audience whose visual hunger is never sated.

Does this make architecture nothing more than consumable images? Does a show like the Guggenheim's simply feed into the escalating image frenzy of print and digital media? Is it even possible to exhibit architecture in a museum? Doesn't one have to experience it with all the senses, over time, to really know architecture?

The exhibit "Frank Gehry, Architect" raises such questions. For some it will be one more sign that the most celebrated architect of the digital age wears the mantle of "genius" only because of his deft talent for image-making in the service of rich and powerful clients. For others, the show will reveal Gehry's work in ways never before appreciated, as a multi-sensual product of tireless invention.

Go see for yourself.

Michael J. Crosbie, contributing editor to ArchitectureWeek, practices with Steven Winter Associates and is the editor of Faith & Form.

Final design model, Ray and Maria Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo: Whit Preston, courtesy Frank O. Gehry & Associates Final design model, DG Bank Building, Berlin, Germany. Photo: Joshua White, courtesy Frank O. Gehry & Associates Easy Edges Wiggle Chair. Photo: Frank O. Gehry & Associates   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.