Andrew Zago introduces Kurt Forster, who begins by reviewing the current architectural scene. He considers architecture largely lost, consisting of either ruins of earlier explorations, or parasites which feed on their environment. Forster characterizes Frank O. Gehry’s work as simultaneously momentary and lasting. Forster analyzes Gehry’s construction methods, emphasizing his ingenuity and craftsmanship.

Kurt Forster examines several of Gehry’s early houses, especially the Indiana Avenue Homes in Venice, California. Forster describes Gehry’s use of varied construction methods, unusual materials, and attentiveness to context. Forster characterizes Gehry’s architecture as a series of stages and event spaces.

Kurt Forster examines Gehry’s projects in terms of Deconstructivism and event spaces. Forster discusses Gehry’s material choices, scale changes, and sculptural forms as a means of producing an effect of independent individuals within a unified social context. Forster uses the Loyola Law School campus to illustrate these effects.

Kurt Forster compares Gehry with James Stirling, with whom he shares a deep interest in Russian Constructivism, and using form and material to display objects in a field.

Then Forster contrasts Gehry with Michael Graves, with whom he shares a theatrical sense, but differs in articulating part to whole relationships.