Shimmering Copper Fish
The redeveloped seafront from the Moll de la Fusta to the Olympic Port area has many top Barcelona hotels and has become one of Barcelona s’ most popular spaces for recreation and leisure. At the base of two landmark towers marking the beginning of the Olympic Port, lies the Frank O Gehry copper lattice fish. This installation which he designed for the 1992 Summer Olympics, is an example of the public art that he has become so well known for.
The scale of the fish is enormous 35m x54m, and as its copper color shines in the bright sunlight or and even on an overcast day. As tempting as it may be to find out what’s going on inside the fish, there’s no interior access, just a shimmering copper skin.
An award winning architect based in Los Angeles, Gehry is very much inspired by fish. In an effort to distance himself from the pervasive “postmodern” architecture during the 1980’s, Gehry became fixated on finding ways to incorporate a sense of movement and emotion in his work. As part of that search, he began to sketch various kinds of fish and then over time to add fish shapes to his buildings. Adding the fish to his formal repertoire also marked the beginning of his exploration of curved surfaces. Figuring out how to construct the fish in three dimensions made it easier, later on, to develop the high spirited organic style he and his firm are now known for.
The copper fish in Barcelona is just one of many that Gehry has created. Standing Glass Fish, in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, is a gigantic glass structure with the internal supporting structure of wood and steel clearly visible. It soars above a reflecting pool in a glass building built especially for it. Another huge Gehry fish sculpture dominates a public garden in front of the Fishdance Restaurant in Kobe, Japan.
It’s quite possible to say that the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall are direct descendants of the l fish sculptures Gehry designed many years ago.