Gehry eyeing new project in Lisbon

Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry is mulling over another project on the Iberian Peninsula, where his famous, ship-like design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is one of contemporary architecture’s greatest hits. But, contrary to an Associated Press report that he had agreed “in principle” to design the renovation of an 80-year-old theater district in Lisbon that has gone to seed, Gehry said Friday that “there is no commitment on either side, although it’s the kind of project I would love to do.”

Gehry says a Lisbon deputy mayor and a project manager met with him several weeks ago in Los Angeles to discuss plans for rebuilding the area known as Parque Mayer. He will visit the district for the first time in mid-January, stopping over in Lisbon on the way to Jerusalem, where Gehry says his design for a new, privately funded counterpart to L.A.’s Museum of Tolerance has been approved and the next stage, making working drawings, is about to commence.

According to Associated Press, Lisbon officials want to build two modern theaters, a film complex, a museum, stores and offices on the 65,000-square-foot site. “I’m just going to see what they’re up to. If it’s real, it’s a wonderful project,” said Gehry, whose latest performance space, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, is nearing completion in downtown L.A..

Mike Boehm