Gehry in Los Angeles and Toronto

Frank Gehry has been in the news lately for two large-scale developments, one in his native hometown of Toronto and one in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. The former is a three-tower design for developer David Mirvish on King Street. The 82-to-86-story towers would provide 2,700 residential units in an area that has seen some of the most changes in the city. Nevertheless city planners are objecting to the scale of the project, which also involves the demolition of a number of historic buildings. The city council votes on the project on December 16.

Five years ago Gehry designed a development with the Related Companies for a site across the street from his Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The mixed-use Grand Avenue Project was stalled by the recession, but it has returned in a new guise to seek approval from a committee made up of city and county officials. Related had tapped Gensler and Robert A.M Stern Architects to design cost-effective solutions in the interim, but committee members called those designs "uninspired," bringing Gehry back into the picture, if in a more toned-down design than the original.

Stay tuned on news of the above projects as they make their way through each locale's approval process.