Renowned Architect Frank Gehry Visits Columbia

When John DeWolf, senior vice president of Howard Hughes Corp., announced Whole Foods' new lease at the former Rouse Company building in downtown, he hinted that renowned architect Frank Gehry may play a role in redesigning that building, the Merriweather Post Pavilion or another building downtown.

On Thursday, it appeared even more possible Gehry is going to get involved, as DeWolf and the architect spent the day touring downtown, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun.

According to the article, DeWolf stated again Howard Hughes' desire to use the architect once again in Columbia. Gehry, 83, who is based in California, said he was interested, but made no commitments, according to the Sun.

Gehry, who designed such iconic buildings as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Dancing House in Prague, kickstarted his career in Columbia designing the former Rouse building and working on Merriweather.

He told the Sun he hadn't been back to Columbia since the early 1990s.

"I think the quality of the gardens and spaces, the trees and all that is probably close to [James] Rouse's dream, the villages and park settings," said Gehry, according to the Sun, but he also noted he hadn't seen any architecture that stands out. 

Read more about Gehry's visit here.

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