Coase’s Theorem And Overexposed Celebrity Architects

I think Washington, DC could use a little Frank Gehry, but this guy’s making a fair point:

An Iowa-based philanthropist and architecture aficionado has offered a $300 million reward to any city anywhere in the world that dares to hire someone other than Frank Gehry to design its gleaming new art museum.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like iconoclastic, swoopy structures that look like bashed-in sardine cans as much as the next guy,” says the philanthropist, who wishes to remain nameless for fear of enraging close friends in the art world. “I like Czech dance halls that look like a 747 plowed right into the façade as much as anybody. I bow to no man in my admiration for an architect who can design an art museum that looks like a intergalactic recycling center. I just thought it would be nice to give the second-most-famous architect in the world a shot at a payday. Whoever he is. I know I’ve got his name here somewhere.”

I wonder if there isn’t more of a role for hybrid philanthropic/profit-seeking models in the built environment. Why should all the cool-looking builidngs be cultural institutions? Maybe philanthropists interested in architecture could team up with conventional real estate developers to give us some more interesting office buildings instead of everything being so functional and dull.