Frank Gehry is in the news. He went to Oviedo in northern Spain to collect the prestigious Prince of Asturias prize, which King Felipe presented to him a couple of days ago. At a press conference just after his arrival in Spain, Gehry was out of sorts. Eighty-five years of age, first he presented his middle finger as the answer to a question by one of the journalists, and then he proceeded to describe ninety-eight percent of everything that is designed and built today as “pure shit.” I was quite pleased by his performance, but the percentage confused me a great deal. Two percent is way too high a figure. Beside himself, who else would qualify in his own mind? The way I see contemporary architecture, though, a hundred percent of it is pure shit, Gehry’s work included. At any rate, he ended up by apologizing for his harsh gestures and words by the end of the press conference. Silly old man, he even used the jetlag as an excuse. I would never apologize, to be sure. Concerning contemporary architecture, no harsh gestures or words are harsh enough to fit the facts. Pure shit from start to finish.

Addendum (November 24, 2016)

Well, well. For all his shenanigans across the globe, Frank Ghery has just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. Goodness gracious! The only good thing about the news is that he is eighty-seven by now. Chances are that he is finished contributing to pure shit, that is. As for the vaunted medal, I wish him all the freedom he can muster. I can only hope he is astute enough to give it an honest try in his dotage. As it has come to pass, architecture is for the birds, anyhow.