New World Center
Frank Gehry
Born February 28, 1929, in Toronto, Ontario, Frank Owen Gehry is considered one of the most inventive working architects alive today. His pioneering designs have a distinct architectural expression that is evocative of both mundane and high art.
Gehry received his undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1954. After studies in urban planning at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and a year in Paris working for French architect André Rémondet, Gehry returned to California, opening an office in Santa Monica in 1962.
Gehry’s practice has expanded to include exhibition design, furniture, jewelry, libraries, office buildings, restaurants, schools and visual and performing arts venues. Gehry's use of unconventional materials and warped forms garnered a reputation for his works to be described as deconstructive architecture. The deconstructivist movement in architecture stems from discussions between French philosopher Jacques Derrida and architect Peter Eisenman. They challenged the accepted idea that structure alone is able to define and communicate the meaning or truth inherent in a designer’s intention. Deconstructive structures are not required to reflect specific universality of form; they do not reflect a belief that form follows function. While Gehry claims no formal alliance to any particular philosophy in general, his Santa Monica residence is a commonly cited as an example of deconstructive architecture: it is so dramatically different from its context and original spatial objectives.
In 1989 Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2006 Gehry was the subject a documentary by Sydney Pollack, Sketches of Frank Gehry. The introduction of high tech computer software has facilitated the construction and engineering of complex building systems, successfully translating Gehry’s free form sketches from model to completion. Today, Gehry & Partners has grown to over 175 employees, and the geographic terrain covered by the firm's work includes the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
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Dr. Yasuhisa Toyota
Dr. Yasuhisa Toyota is Executive Advisor and founder of Nagata Acoustics International. With over 30 years of experience in designing some of the world’s finest performance venues, Dr. Toyota is an established international authority in the field of concert hall design. Over his career, Dr. Toyota has been project leader for more than 50 concert hall and multipurpose hall projects. Some of Dr. Toyota’s most prominent acoustical designs include Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the New World Symphony’s New World Center, all of which enjoy stellar international reputations. His expertise focuses on hall configuration design and the design of acoustical spaces for orchestral, chamber music and other non-amplified musical genres.
Nagata Acoustics is Japan’s leading acoustical consulting firm and is one of only a small number of companies in this specialized field whose activities are known and respected worldwide.
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West 8
West 8 is an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture, founded in 1987 with offices in Rotterdam, North America and Belgium. Over the last three decades West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. West 8's New York office was established after winning an international design competition in 2006 for the design of Governors Island Park—a 172-acre island in the New York Harbor.
With a multi-disciplinary approach to complex design issues, West 8 has extensive experience in large-scale urban master planning and design, landscape interventions, waterfront projects, parks, squares and gardens. West 8 also develops concepts and visions for large-scale planning issues that involve global warming, urbanization and infrastructure.
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Additional New World Center Partners
City of Miami Beach
Knight Foundation
Hitachi
ProSound
Jezet Seating
For-A
