"He resolved to build around this suburban house, transforming it into a sculptural labyrinth of readily available materials like corrugated metal, exposed raw plywood, and even chain-link fencing, which interested him because it "was so ubiquitous and because it was so universally hated." Gehry's son, Sam, said his friends used to make fun of him because "The Tin House" always looked under construction."
""The neighbours got really pissed off", Gehry later recalled, with a shrug. "The guy across the street with the trailers, and the corrugated metal fence and the cars on the lawn came across one day, and asked 'What the hell is this all about?' I said, 'Look, you've got all your stuff here and I'm just relating to you.'" The neighbour responded, increasingly baffled: '"Yeah, but mine is normal.'"
In 1977 Frank Gehry transformed a modest pink Dutch-colonial bungalow in Santa Monica by building around it with corrugated metal, exposed raw plywood and chain-link fencing. The renovation produced a sculptural, unfinished aesthetic that unsettled neighbours, drew ridicule and prompted threats of legal action. Gehry found the controversy confirming his attraction to buildings that appeared perpetually in formation rather than finished. The residence, dubbed The Tin House, became an architectural pilgrimage site for students and aficionados. One neighbour later emulated the approach, remodeling around his own house and extending the design's polarizing influence.
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