This digital exhibition reveals the process behind Gehry’s iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall

Together with Getty Research Institute (GRI), digital experience agency Resn have put together an online exhibition and documentary on the Walt Disney Concert Hall, featuring 200 images from the institute’s archive of architect Frank O. Gehry’s studio. The virtual experience brings together handcrafted models, immersing viewers in the journey from his initial concepts (beginning in 1987) to the final construction (completed in 2003), with the aim to inspire everyone from art and design aficionados to those less versed in the story of the iconic concert hall and its design process.

The birth of this project can be traced back to 2017, when GRI acquired Frank O. Gehry’s papers, and began dedicating a scholarship to create a digital archive of his work. The concert hall then became a focus in 2021, where it began interviews with the architect and his studio partners, as well as the LA Philharmonic (who have been residents for 20 years) and Nagata Acoustics. When Resn came onto the project in early 2023, they were adamant on making the project a celebration of design. “Our intention was not to follow a certain style, but to capture a feeling,” design director at Resn and graphic designer Bruno Arizio tells us.

The Resn team initially found it challenging to build a consistent online narrative with the materials selected by the GRI. “GRI’s work is extremely scholarly and insightful for an academic audience, so we also found it challenging to communicate the weight of the research into something that retains its scholarship while also being accessible to a wide audience.” And, the exhibition turned out to be a balance between the two, offering depth through exposure to his materials and process, alongside a visual language that illustrates his style.

The team achieved this by incorporating his insights, flair and impact into every facet of the identity – with playful typography featuring heavily throughout, allowing visitors to stretch and squeeze it to reflect Gehry’s consistent style of design, as well as musical extracts from the LA Philharmonic.

Finding Gehry’s work particularly “warm, charming, playful and authentic, and all about movement,” it influenced the digital experience on a broader level, taking viewers on the journey through phases, broken up by poster-like introductions with images of materials and text that gives an insight into his process. “It was also a celebration of the 90s, with all the pop colours, and funky, condensed typography that were so prevalent. We had to revisit all of that so the exhibition would feel digitally native,” Bruno shares. “Throughout Sculpting Harmony we used digital models designed over 30 years ago to help anchor the narrative, finding what stories to tell by following Frank’s mind and his anecdotes. I hope people can feel a bit of that.”

You can view Sculpting Harmony here.