Dassault Systemes and IBM Sponsors Frank Gehry, Architect, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City

World-renowned architect revolutionizes the architectural process using the CATIA digital technology

 

Paris , May 16, 2001 - Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) and IBM today announced their joint participation in the retrospective exhibition of the works of one of today's leading architects, Frank O.Gehry. The exhibition will open to the public May 18 through August 26, 2001 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, and is expected to attract over 400,000 visitors. <br/>

 

 

The exhibition features approximately 40 Gehry projects, over half of which are designed and built using CATIA, the world's leading computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) software from IBM and Dassault Systemes.. Gehry first used CATIA to create the Fish sculpture for the 1992 Vila Olimpica in Barcelona, Spain. On more recent projects -including the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Seattle's Experience Music Project- Gehry applied CATIA in more sophisticated ways.<br/>

 

 

 

"CATIA provides a way for me to get closer to the craft ", says Frank Gehry,. " In the past, there were many layers between my rough sketch and the final building and the feeling of the design could get lost before it reached the craftsman. It feels like I've been speaking a foreign language, and now, all of a sudden, the craftsman understands me. Flat drawings of curved surfaces can be beautiful, but they are deceptive; with CATIA you can see how to build it. "

 

 

<p/>

 

" Frank applied the technology we developed for the aerospace and automotive industries to the world of architectural design and construction and created the most extraordinary buildings of our times," said Bernard Charlès, Dassault Systèmes's president.<br/>

 

 

 

" True artists experience great personal pain in their undaunting persuit of excellence," said Ed Petrozelli, general manager, IBM engineering solutions. "Our function from a technology standpoint is to increase the artist's ability to focus on their design and to liberate them to experiment more freely by removing mechanical concerns from the creative process."<br/>

 

 

 

The architectural design and construction community is impressed with the advanced work process improvements made by Gehry's projects, but for Gehry this is only the beginning. His principal partner, Jim Glymph, has outlined higher levels of demand not just for Gehry's current and future projects, but also for the entire industry. "The use of CATIA on our projects has extended the possibilities in design far beyond what we believe was possible ten years ago. We hope that within the next ten years this technology will be available for all architects and engineers," said Glymph.<br/>