Frank Gehry reflects on Eisenhower Memorial design controversies
“I came away blindsided [by Eisenhower's legacy]. It brings tears to my eyes. How his accomplishments as a general and as a president match anything, all without the fanfare that’s going on around the president now. The opposite. He was modest but strong. A staggering accomplishment.”Rowan Moore, architecture critic at The Observer, interviews architect Frank Gehry for The Guardian regarding the soon-to-open Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. The contentious memorial, which drew the ire of conservative architecture critics, was developed by Gehry Partners in collaboration with AECOM, and is set to debut to the public September 17th. In the interview, Gehry expresses frustration over criticisms lobbed at the design's contemporary approach, arguing that these critics focused on “arbitrary bullshit" by expecting that the memorial "should be classical architecture, period, and there’s no room for any invention or new expression as the world continues to change."
“I came away blindsided [by Eisenhower's legacy]. It brings tears to my eyes. How his accomplishments as a general and as a president match anything, all without the fanfare that’s going on around the president now. The opposite. He was modest but strong. A staggering accomplishment.”
Rowan Moore, architecture critic at The Observer, interviews architect Frank Gehry for The Guardian regarding the soon-to-open Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. The contentious memorial, which drew the ire of conservative architecture critics, was developed by Gehry Partners in collaboration with AECOM, and is set to debut to the public September 17th.
In the interview, Gehry expresses frustration over criticisms lobbed at the design's contemporary approach, arguing that these critics focused on “arbitrary bullshit" by expecting that the memorial "should be classical architecture, period, and there’s no room for any invention or new expression as the world continues to change."
