Since the 1997 completion of what many consider his greatest achievement—the stunning Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain—Frank O. Gehry has soared to the forefront of contemporary American architecture. Long recognized by his peers for his innovative designs, Gehry now enjoys a new level of prominence in the popular imagination. This book, the catalogue of the first large-scale retrospective of Gehry's work in 15 years, examines the architect's unique vision and provides the historical perspective with which to interpret his audacious accomplishments.

Essays by noted museum curators and architectural historians explore his iconoclastic spirit and trace his melding of unconventional materials and forms. Photographs, drawings, plans, and scale models communicate the breadth and complexity of Gehry's work and show how, in his view of architecture as sculptural space, Gehry has opened up a world of new possibilities for architecture.