World loses a master

FRANK GEHRY: ARCHITECT OF 'THE GREATEST BUILDING OF OUR TIME' >>> Biggest of the elite group of 'starchitects'.

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DISTINCT. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in Spain earned Frank Gehry international acclaim. The limestone and glass building with curvy walls clad in titanium scales is instantly recognisable as his design.

(Pictures: AFP)

Canada-born US architect Frank Gehry, whose daring and whimsical designs from the Guggenheim Bilbao to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles captivated fans and critics, died on Friday. He was 96.

Gehry was perhaps the biggest of the so-called "starchitects" - an elite group that includes Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and others - and enjoyed his fame, but absolutely hated the label.

"There are people who design buildings that are not technically and financially good, and there are those who do," he told The Independent in 2009. "Two categories, simple."

His artistic genius and boldness shone through in his complex designs - such as the glass "sails" of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.