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1. Buildings need to relate to people, says architect

1. Buildings need to relate to people, says architect
CARRIE CHAN, SCMP 22 November 2004

When Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry arrived in Hong Kong, he was not impressed with the architecture.

"The buildings that don't look so good to me are those that do not relate to its people and do not have humanity," he told the closing session of the Business of Design Week at the Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday.

The 1989 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate is best known for creating Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum, a sculpture-like building of curvaceous and twisting metal-clad forms. Completed in 1997, it attracted world attention to the formerly quiet industrial town.

"The Guggenheim building paid for itself in just eight months. The city is very committed to cleaning itself up and turning itself around," Mr Gehry said.

Asked for the secret to good architecture, he spoke of boldness and experimentation. "There has to be willingness to take a risk and go into the unknown," he said.

Mr Gehry's participation in the show was suggested by Swire Properties, which hired him to design a museum complex for its West Kowloon cultural district project bid.