©AFP PHOTO / HO / Frank GEHRY

Controversial Canadian architect Frank Gehry unveiled his latest creation in Sydney on Thursday, saying he was expecting the "crinkly" landmark to generate debate.
Gehry, 81, said the 150-million-dollar business school at Sydney's University of Technology, would "generate some questions" but he was confident the wrinkly tree-house design would ultimately be embraced.
"I think, confidently, once these things are built they are absorbed in a nice way by the community," said Gehry, whose creations include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
"A lot of junk is built in cities around the world and nobody really complains... I don't think it's going to destroy your town, honest," he said.
Construction of the 11-storey building will begin on the university's campus in central Sydney in 2012. It will be Gehry's only creation in Australia.
Due for completion in early 2014, the building will have two distinct facades, one consisting of undulating brick and the other of angled sheets of glass that aim to fracture and mirror the images of the surrounding buildings.
California-based Gehry said the structure had been designed like a "tree house", generating a sense of "creative play".
"It's crinkly like that because the hardest thing to do in modern architecture is to make it humane and give it a character, give it a feeling," he said.

Published 17.12.2010