Gehry’s work is a voyage for the senses.

By Kristina Malsberger

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a new home called the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a project sparked by a $50 million donation from Lillian Disney, Walt's widow, in 1987. Designed by Frank Gehry, the trendsetting architectural auteur behind Seattle's Experience Music Project and Spain's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the hall has become downtown L.A.'s premier landmark. More sculpture than structure, its steel shape suggests a ship in full sail, unfolding as if swept by an unseen gale. Gehry extended the nautical motif inside the 2,265-seat auditorium, working with master acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota to place the audience in a curving, wood-lined space designed to be "a ceremonial barge on a journey through music." One way to experience this sensory voyage is through an audio tour, narrated by John Lithgow, offered daily. INFORMATION: (213) 972-4399, www.musiccenter.org.