Andrew
10-19-2003, 01:16 PM
L.A. all ears for Disney
New concert hall a sensuous spectacle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/19/MNGP72ERN31.DTL) - San Francisco Chronicle, 10/19/03
John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Los Angeles -- If ever there was an architectural event, Thursday's debut of the Walt Disney Concert Hall will be it: 16 years and $274 million in the making, the building already is heralded as a rare design landmark and a symbol of this city's aspirations.
The architect is Frank Gehry, a Santa Monica resident whose gravity- defying work has changed people's notions of what buildings can do. The local power brokers who raised money for this new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, meanwhile, see it as a chance to prove that the land of sun and sitcoms is a center of serious culture - and centered on a "real" downtown.
Wonder of wonders, it almost lives up to the hype.
New concert hall a sensuous spectacle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/19/MNGP72ERN31.DTL) - San Francisco Chronicle, 10/19/03
John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Los Angeles -- If ever there was an architectural event, Thursday's debut of the Walt Disney Concert Hall will be it: 16 years and $274 million in the making, the building already is heralded as a rare design landmark and a symbol of this city's aspirations.
The architect is Frank Gehry, a Santa Monica resident whose gravity- defying work has changed people's notions of what buildings can do. The local power brokers who raised money for this new home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, meanwhile, see it as a chance to prove that the land of sun and sitcoms is a center of serious culture - and centered on a "real" downtown.
Wonder of wonders, it almost lives up to the hype.