Frank Gehry, the American-Canadian architect who became one of the rare figures in his profession to achieve global superstar status, died Friday at the age of 96, his team announced. The master of deconstructivism passed away "this morning at his home in Santa Monica following a brief respiratory illness," according to an email sent to AFP by his staff.

Gehry was the visionary behind some of the world's most iconic buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. It was in Santa Monica, on the coastal edge of Los Angeles, California, where the young architect built his own home in 1978 - an envelope around a Dutch bungalow that established the fundamental principles of his architectural style.

Born Frank Owen Goldberg in Canada in 1929 to a Jewish family, he would later change his name after his studies in California to protect himself from antisemitism. His first major work came with the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, a project that blended ancient references with bold modernist breaks from tradition. This achievement led to his receiving the Pritzker Prize in 1989, the highest distinction in the architectural world.

The opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain in 1997 truly cemented Gehry's international reputation. He would later incorporate those same complex and asymmetrical curves into his design for the vast Walt Disney Concert Hall in his home city of Los Angeles, which opened in 2003. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, which performs in this building, expressed their devastation on social media platform X on Friday, mourning the loss of an architect with "bold imagination."

Throughout all these projects, Frank Gehry consistently blurred the boundaries between architecture and art. As an innovator, he fundamentally shook up the world of contemporary architecture and helped popularize the profession among the general public. His architectural philosophy challenged conventional notions of form and function, creating buildings that seemed to defy gravity and traditional geometric constraints.

One of his final major works was the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a futuristic monument of concrete and glass that sits adjacent to the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, in western Paris. This stunning structure, with its sail-like glass panels and flowing design, represents one of the most ambitious architectural projects of the 21st century.

Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire and chairman of luxury conglomerate LVMH who commissioned the Louis Vuitton Foundation, expressed his profound sadness at Gehry's passing in a statement. Arnault praised the architect's unique ability to "incomparably mold forms, fold glass like canvas, and make it dance like a silhouette." He added that "with the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation, he gave Paris, gave France, his most beautiful masterpiece and the highest expression of his creative power, matching the friendship he bore for our city and the affection he showed for our culture."

Gehry's influence extended far beyond individual buildings, fundamentally changing how people think about architectural space and form. His use of unconventional materials, computer-aided design, and sculptural approaches to building design inspired countless architects and changed the landscape of modern cities around the world. His legacy lives on in the many iconic structures that continue to captivate visitors and challenge perceptions of what architecture can achieve.