Frank Gehry may be 87, but the starchitect continues to prove that he is anything but old school: Today, pre-enrollment opened for Gehry’s first-ever online architecture class. The course, hosted by the website MasterClass, will begin this spring and introduce students to Gehry’s “unconventional philosophy on architecture, design, and art.”
“Theses ideas are scary as hell to tell to the client; they can reject you and they will,” said Gehry—reclining in his Cross Check chair—in a video teaser for the course. “But you have to find your own voice.”
The course will unfold over more than 15 pre-recorded lectures filmed inside Gehry’s cavernous model archive. But there is homework, and the Prizker winner will critique select student work during virtual “office hours.”
“I hope this gives [students] the wings to explore and the courage to create their own language,” Gehry said.
The class will be more rigorous than Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting, but don’t expect to go out and build the next Guggenheim Bilbao after finishing: According to company spokespeople, the course is aimed at amateurs—or Gehry fanatics who simply want more insight into his genius.
At $90, the course is certainly cheaper than the $50,000-per-year tuition at Yale’s architecture school, where Gehry hosted an advanced studio last spring. Online, Gehry will join a virtual MasterClass faculty that includes celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, DeadMau5, Gordon Ramsay, and Usher.
