Stainless Switch a Poor Reflection on Disney Hall

Regarding “Disney Hall’s Date With the Public is Postponed to 2002” (Calendar, June 12): Reading the latest update on the Walt Disney Concert Hall (completion now postponed to 2002), I wasn’t prepared for the land mine buried in the middle of the story: that stainless steel would “cover the all-curves exterior” of the hall.

As explained by the new construction overseer, Jack Burnell, a cladding of stainless steel will substitute for the white limestone originally foreseen on the concert hall’s undulating walls by architect Frank Gehry.

I am reminded of British writer Ronald Firbank’s comment in the ‘20s regarding an analogous act where misguided practicality won out over artistic value: “The habit of putting glass over an oil painting always makes such a good reflection, particularly when the picture’s dark.

Many’s the time I’ve run into the National Gallery on my way to the Savoy and tidied myself before [Da Vinci’s] ‘The Virgin of the Rocks.’ ” If this English novelist comes back to life in 2002, he will not have to rush down to the mirrored Bonaventure Hotel to get himself in shape before attending the L.A. Philharmonic. As it stands now, the new Walt Disney Concert Hall will provide enough reflective surface to please dozens of would-be Firbanks.

As originally planned, Gehry’s curved walls of stone were evocative of the oscillation of tone--chords of music frozen in time. The architect’s choice of limestone (marble in its broadest sense) is in the tradition of the Elgin sculptures and the two Bernini “Angels” in Rome’s St. Andrews Church.

The stone’s artistic manipulation enables us to access what is evanescent. It directs us to the soul’s climate. Limestone, not the distracting reflection off stainless steel, will complement Gehry’s gloriously futuristic design, linking it with great sculpture while grounding it to a centuries-long tradition of architectural expression.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is an earlier design than Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. I think it is quite independent in spirit from the latter work. Yet, if the exterior walls are covered with panels of stainless steel, it will (contrary to Burnell’s opinion) most certainly beg comparison with Gehry’s titanium-shrouded museum in Spain. A concert hall that “will sparkle in the daytime and be reflective of the city at night” is a “son of Bilbao” in the making.

Lack of funds for completing the limestone walls as Gehry envisions them can never be a legitimate excuse in a city this rich. But this is one of Burnell’s reasons for substituting a metallic material commonly used in covering kitchen counter tops.

And if there are only a “few people” in the world able to cut the stones, well, let us count our blessings for that and find out when these artisans can start to work.

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And if the stones require “expensive and difficult earthquake retrofitting,” that’s a minor challenge in this wealthy town with its history of buildings tough enough to withstand significant seismic disturbance.

In common with Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, its neighbor-to-be up the street, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is a sacred enclosure, not a glitzy entertainment center. In guiding the concert hall to its fruition, Burnell must dedicate himself to the integrity of the work as set forth, understanding the long-term consequences of compromise.

On the eve of construction we cannot afford to substitute misguided practicality for enduring artistic value.