I was in jazzerific Seattle a month ago and was completely blown away by its wacky modern architecture. In particular, the Experience the Music Project's twisted metal walls and garish colours required some investigation...

Apparently, the concept for the 140,000-square-foot interactive museum at Seattle Center was based on the shapes and colours of an electric guitar. It was created by Frank Gehry, a famous Canadian-born architect known for his structural approach to building design.

Gehry's style is derived from late modernism. The tortured, warped forms of his creations are considered expressions of deconstructivist (DeCon) modernist architecture. DeCon is different from modernism in that it de-emphasizes societal goals (ex. speed and universitality of form) and the requirement to be of use (ie. "form must follow function").

Gerhry's creations often juxtapose space and material. For example, he will use odd, protuding shapes to contrast simple geometric forms. He also uses a mixture of both common and uncommon architectural materials (e.g., raw plywood, corrugated aluminum, and exposed pipe) to give his buildings a purposely unfinished look.

Check out a shot of Gehry's 'Dancing Building' in Prague (above).