89岁的弗兰克·欧文·盖里已经是世界顶尖建筑师之一，他以后现代设计闻名于世，作品包括洛杉矶的沃尔特迪斯尼音乐厅、西班牙毕尔巴鄂的古根海姆博物馆、巴黎的路易威登基金会。他在洛杉矶的公司盖里建筑事务所（Gehry Partners）有160名员工，却仍然亲力亲为，监督每一个项目的进展。

Frank Owen Gehry, 89, has become one of the world’s leading architects, known for postmodern designs like the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. His Los Angeles firm Gehry Partners has 160 employees, but he still personally oversees every project.

我出生在多伦多，原名叫弗兰克·欧文·戈德堡，家里开了间五金店。祖父是一个犹太教堂的主席，时常读《犹太法典》给我听。好奇心是贯穿《犹太法典》全书的关键词，“为什么”是法典开篇的第一个词。我曾经听教徒们坐着聊天，听他们对人们的信念和观点提出挑战。

后来我父亲患上心脏病，丢掉了生意，1947年我们搬到加州，随着父亲的兄弟去了洛杉矶。父亲最后在一家酒类专卖店找了份工作，工作地点离我们在洛杉矶市区住的两室公寓隔了四个街区。

我们当时很穷，17岁时，我找了份卡车司机的工作，晚上在洛杉矶城市学院上夜校。 我喜欢做木工，参加了一个建筑绘画课程后，被南加州大学的魅力吸引，入了学。20世纪50年代，反犹太主义开始蔓延。南加州大学充斥着反犹太主义的情绪。老师们说如果我想成功，就得改名。1954年，我当时的妻子安妮塔怀上了我们的第一个孩子，我才同意把姓改为盖里。

南加州大学毕业后，我应征加入美国陆军，服役结束后去了哈佛大学设计研究生院学习城市规划。但我没念完，因为实在太无聊了。我重返洛杉矶，在一家建筑公司工作，1962年决定创立自己的事务所。

当时我有个朋友想盖一座六单元的公寓楼，我们就开始合伙。两人拿出了所有存款，用5000美元买了块地，这在当时对我们来说是笔巨款。他在凯氏珠宝（Kay Jewelers）有些资源，因此我为凯氏设计了几家店铺、一间仓库。弗兰克盖里事务所就这样慢慢起步了。

我没有为了招徕某种特定的生意专门出去社交。我曾在洛杉矶郡立艺术博物馆为艺术家朋友们做过艺术装置，因此在洛杉矶准备建立现代艺术博物馆时，得以参与和投资者召开的小组会议。我设计了洛杉矶现代艺术博物馆Geffen现代馆的前身Temporary Contemporary，但艺术馆没能赶上1984年的奥运会按时开幕，。

进行跨国工作需要熟知文化差异。必须要愿意知道其中的差异，把它融入你的工作计划。在设计毕尔巴鄂古根海姆博物馆前，我花时间进行学习，通过和巴斯克的普通家庭、巴斯克文化[和语言政策]部长以及其他人交流来理解当地文化。

I WAS BORN Frank Owen Goldberg in Toronto, where my family had a hardware store. My grandfather was president of a synagogue and used to read the Talmud to me. The Talmud is all about curiosity. It starts with the word “why.” I used to listen to the men sit and talk, challenging beliefs and ideas.

When my father had a heart attack, he lost his business, and in 1947, we emigrated to California, following his brother to Los Angeles. My father ended up working in a liquor store, four blocks from where we lived in a two-room apartment in downtown L.A.

We were poor, and at 17, I got a job as a truck driver and took night classes at Los Angeles City College. I loved woodworking, and after taking a class in architectural drawing, I was hooked and enrolled at the University of Southern California. Back in the ’50s, anti-Semitism was in the air. USC was filled with it. Teachers said I should change my name if I wanted to succeed. In 1954, when my then wife, Anita, got pregnant with our first child, I agreed to change my surname to Gehry.

After USC, I got drafted into the U.S. Army and, when I came back, went to the Harvard Graduate School of Design for city planning. But I didn’t finish because it was boring. I came back to L.A. to work for an architectural firm, then decided to start my own office in 1962.

I had a friend who wanted to build a six-unit apartment house, so we built it together. We pooled savings and bought the land for about $5,000, which was a lot for us. He had a connection to Kay Jewelers, and I designed a couple of stores and a warehouse for them. So slowly, Frank Gehry and Associates got started.

I didn’t go out with any intention to attract any particular kind of job. I’d done art installations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for artist friends of mine and became part of the group meeting with investors when the city got ready to build the Museum of Contemporary Art. I did the Temporary Contemporary design, when MOCA didn’t open in time for the 1984 Olympic Games.

Working internationally requires understanding cultural differences. You have to want to understand the differences and make it part of your work program. I spent time studying and talking with Basque families, the Basque Minister for Culture [and Language Policy] and others to understand their culture before designing the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Frank Gehry’s Best Advice

Founder of Frank Gehry and Associates and Gehry Partners

TREAT ALL JOBS EQUALLY:

“With every project, no matter how small, act as if it’s the most important one. Make sure it’s technically and economically viable because you’ll be judged on the smallest things.”

TEST EVERYTHING:

“I don’t have expectations when I take on a project. I test ideas endlessly and ask why. I build 20 to 30 models for every project because you have to give the job its due. You don’t just do the first idea that comes to you, which is easy. It’s not fair to do anything less than your best.”

早期，别人雇你是因为他们知道你正在生活中挣扎，出低价就能拿下你。再后来，当你有了名声，他们想要的只是你的名声。

现在我的客户都从我设计的建筑中挣了大钱。但即使在一开始，如果客户的意愿完全违背我的工作感受，我也不会接受他们的工作邀约。只要你和出色的人一起尽心工作，自然就能赚到钱。如今我的第二任妻子贝尔塔是公司的首席财务官，掌管公司的财务方向。

我现在喜欢设计音乐厅。我刚免费为东西和平管弦乐团（West-Eastern Divan Orchestra）做了设计，乐团汇聚了来自以色列、巴勒斯坦和其他阿拉伯国家的音乐家，他们一同演奏，用音乐交流。在我收到的所有奖项中，最有意义的是获得茱莉亚音乐学院的音乐博士头衔。我一个音符都不会弹，但因为修建了音乐殿堂而获此殊荣。

把建筑当作艺术的人变少了。很多建筑不过是商业模型，其实只需付出少许努力，就能让建筑变得特别。我相信可以创造出有个性、不具侵略性、恰如其分的设计，让人们能在这样的建筑中居住娱乐，从中感受愉悦和共鸣。（财富中文网）

本文另一版本发表于《财富》杂志2018年11月1日刊，题目为《弗兰克·盖里》。

译者：Agatha

In the early days, they hire you because they know you’re struggling, and they think they can get you cheap. In the later days, when you have a name, they just want your name.

Now I work for people who make a lot of money from my buildings. But even back in the beginning, if a client’s wishes were totally counter to my feelings about the work, I wouldn’t take the job. If you do the best work with good people, the money comes. Today, my second wife, Berta, is CFO of the company and guides the ship financially.

Right now, I love designing concert halls. I just did one pro bono for the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together Israeli, Palestinian, and other Arab musicians to play and talk to each other through music. Of all the awards I’ve received, the most meaningful was getting a doctorate in music from the Juilliard school. I don’t play a note, but I got it for making buildings for music.

The number of people practicing architecture as an art has dwindled. A lot of buildings are really just commercial models that, with very little effort, could become special. I believe it’s possible to create designs that are not faceless or aggressive but are reasonable containers to live in and play in, that bring something uplifting and communal to people.

A version of this article appears in the November 1, 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “Frank Gehry.”