Frank Gehry was not just an architect: an exhibition in Porto explains why

The title “Gehry’s Century” foreshadows the desire to recount an extraordinary life that lasted nearly a hundred years. Gehry passed away on December 5, 2025, and this is the first exhibition dedicated to him since his death. Throughout his long life, he demonstrated an extraordinary freedom in looking at the world, for 96 years, with ever-fresh eyes.

The idea for the exhibition was born a few years ago. Serralves, a leading international cultural institution housed in a building designed by Álvaro Siza – another great master who is about to turn 93 and was present throughout the opening evening – was able to count on his direct involvement.

Siza, a long-time friend of Gehry, with whom he also worked on the master plan for the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, acted as a liaison with António Choupina, director of Serralves.

Gehry also personally followed the development of the retrospective for as long as he could. The goal was to build an exhibition capable of conveying the joy and innovative power of a lifetime of work to the general public, showing how architecture concerns all people and is intimately linked to the quality of living.

The most striking element is the presence of large-scale models: many at 1:50, some even at 1:20. It almost feels as if one could step inside them. The exhibition highlights how Gehry’s studio rapidly transformed from a traditional atelier into a massive laboratory where physical models became the primary design tool.

Paper, scissors, and glue, folding and curving thin sheets to give life to buildings that transcended the boundaries between sculpture and architecture. Unsurprisingly, the exhibition path concludes with a large photograph that appears unexpectedly, hidden behind the final wall: a studio that does not look like a studio, but rather a tall, vast warehouse dominated by models of ongoing projects, which are being worked on incessantly.

Gehry’s models, much like his actual buildings, managed to communicate even with those who do not work in architecture. They are examples of popular art, in the truest sense of the term, and this quality was something Gehry appreciated deeply.

Here emerges one of the most interesting lessons left by Gehry. He is well known for being the first to introduce advanced software into the studio for the three-dimensional design of complex forms. It was a choice that earned him a fair share of criticism at the time, not unlike what is happening today with artificial intelligence.

  Instead, Gehry demonstrated how, despite the computer, his design process remained profoundly human: made by hand, through physical models, constant trials, and continuous corrections. Today, just as in the past, technology serves as a supporting tool for architecture, not as a replacement for the designer.

For this reason, Choupina, who curated the exhibition alongside Gehry Partners and in collaboration with the Getty Museum, chose to display not only the final models but also the intermediate, raw, and “imperfect” ones. This choice makes it clear that design is born from trials, reconsiderations, and errors. Even great masterpieces pass through these phases.

Models are the core of the exhibition. Positioned at the center of the rooms, they spark curiosity and invite visitors to move forward through the space. Around them, on the walls, are original sketches, drawings, photographs, and videos that allow for deeper exploration.

Among the dozens of works on display, spanning from his early days to his most celebrated projects, the central role naturally belongs to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Inaugurated in 1997, it was the building that generated the most conversation, even far beyond architectural circles. It made clear the impact a building can have on society and on a city. 

Besides ushering in the era of “spectacle architecture”, the Guggenheim clearly demonstrated what has since been defined worldwide as the “Bilbao effect”: the capacity of a single piece of architecture to trigger processes of urban transformation and rebirth.

Gehry was all of this and much more. Not only the recipient of the Pritzker Prize in 1989, but also a person who had to face various hardships.

To prepare for the exhibition visit, I highly recommend the 2005 documentary directed by his friend Sydney Pollack, Sketches of Frank Gehry. It is an intimate portrait that reveals lesser-known episodes of his life: the discrimination he faced due to his nationality and religion, which led to his name change in 1954, his emigration, his early job as a truck driver to support his family, and the initial criticisms his architecture received.

This is another message the exhibition leaves with its visitors: there are no lives without difficulties, and even those who achieved extraordinary results had to overcome obstacles. Gehry wanted to remind us that, especially when trying to create something new, difficulties will arise, but one must never stop working or believing in one's own ideas and dreams.

Featured image: Frank Gehry in front of his home in Santa Monica. Photo © Frank O. Gehry. Courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles