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Frank Gehry, Visionary Behind Bilbao’s Guggenheim, Dies at 96

His office said he died at home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness.

Overview

  • Meaghan Lloyd, Gehry’s chief of staff, confirmed his December 5 death and cause in a statement.
  • The 1997 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao became his defining work and a catalyst for the city’s cultural and economic revival known as the “Bilbao effect.”
  • A leading deconstructivist, he fused sculptural, fragmented forms with titanium, steel and glass using advanced aerospace-derived digital modeling.
  • His career drew more than a hundred honors, including the 1989 Pritzker Prize, the AIA Gold Medal and Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award in 2014.
  • Coverage notes projects still developing or planned, including Guggenheim Abu Dhabi targeted for 2026, Facebook’s Menlo Park expansion, a Berlin residential tower and work cited on the Eisenhower Memorial.