Gehry will design Paris museum

Plans were unveiled Monday to build an ethereal, fully transparent museum designed by architect Frank Gehry that will house a contemporary art collection in Paris.

Bernard Arnault, chairman of French luxury goods empire LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, described the museum as “more of a cloud than a building.”

Although city council approval is still required, the 45,200-square-foot museum, made mostly of glass and shaped with numerous sharp angles, is expected to go up in the vast Bois de Boulogne park on Paris’ western edge between next year and 2010, at a cost of $126 million. It is to be called the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation building and will house 20th and 21st century art.

“The idea of building a solid, strong and formal object appeared inappropriate to me in this green,” Gehry said. He said the structure features rooftop terraces that offer views of the park, uniting indoors with outdoors and the city with the sky.