But the renowned architect’s client Facebook decided it didn’t want a landmark after hiring Gehry to expand the company’s headquarters. Facebook wanted something much blander.

The social network this week won approval from the city council of the architectural black hole of Menlo Park, California, to proceed with building “Facebook West,” a 433,555-square-foot building across the road from its existing headquarters inside an old Sun Microsystems office complex. The vote was 4-0, which shouldn’t be surprising given that Gehry was asked for an anonymous design that blends in very well – the opposite of his usual eye-catching distinctiveness.