The Gehry Viñoly Symbiosis

This past weekend I was on the Bard Campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, and I got a chance to see the Frank Gehry designed Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Having spent almost a week photographing Gehry’s Lewis Library at Princeton it was invigorating to explore the Fisher Center. Where Lewis Library is angular, anchored, and relies on color; the Fisher Center is undulating, organic, and defies gravity. It feels as if a giant with a child’s curiosity could not help but peel back layers to see what is inside.

I have seen photos of the Fisher Center before but in person I was most taken with the scale. It’s huge. Unlike Lewis Library it does not have adjacent buildings to give it context, it creates its own context.

I did not have a regular camera with me so once again it’s Hipstamatic time:

Main entrance, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College. July 30, 2011. Click images to enlarge.

Where the titanium ends. The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. July 30, 2011.

Even though the building was about to close one of the theater workers let us into the main hall for a few moments. I had to promise not to take any photos – the stage was set for an upcoming opera with sets by architect Rafael Viñoly. That made me smile because it brought everything full circle. At Princeton, prior to Lewis Library, the only Gehry structure was a sculptural meeting space, organic in form, and housed within the lobby of the Viñoly designed genomics building.