LOS ANGELES — Frank Gehry, a pioneering architect renowned for crafting some of the world’s most inventive structures, has passed away at the age of 96. His designs have captivated audiences globally, earning him a rare level of fame in his field.

Gehry’s life came to a peaceful close on Friday at his Santa Monica residence. His passing followed a brief struggle with a respiratory illness, confirmed Meaghan Lloyd, the chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.

Throughout his illustrious career, Gehry garnered every significant accolade in architecture. His passion for modern pop art fueled his creativity, leading to the creation of fantastical buildings that have been celebrated across the globe. His work has not only transformed skylines but has also elevated architecture to an art form.

Among Gehry’s celebrated works are iconic structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the DZ Bank Building in Berlin. Each of these masterpieces showcases his unique vision and ability to redefine architectural norms.

Gehry’s extraordinary contributions to architecture were recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in the field. His work has been described as “refreshingly original and totally American,” reflecting his profound impact on the architectural world.

Other honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his native country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.

Years after he stopped designing ordinary looking buildings, word surfaced in 2006 that the pedestrian Santa Monica mall project that had led to his career epiphany might be headed for the wrecking ball. Gehry admirers were aghast, but the man himself was amused.

“They’re going to tear it down now and build the kind of original idea I had,” he said with a laugh.

Eventually Santa Monica Place was remodeled, giving it a more contemporary, airy outdoor look. Still, it’s no Gehry masterpiece.

Gehry, meanwhile, continued to work well into his 80s, turning out heralded buildings that remade skylines around the world.

The headquarters of InerActiveCorp, known as the IAC Building, took the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New York City’s Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York By Gehry building, one of the world’s tallest residential structures, was a stunning addition to the Lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in 2011.

That same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He also taught at Yale and Columbia University over the years.

Not everyone was a fan of Gehry’s work. Some naysayers dismissed it as not much more than gigantic, lopsided reincarnations of the little scrap-wood cities he said he spent hours building when he was growing up in the mining town of Timmins, Ontario.

Princeton art critic Hal Foster dismissed many of his later efforts as “oppressive,” arguing they were designed primarily to be tourist attractions. Some denounced Disney Hall as looking like a collection of cardboard boxes that had been left out in the rain.

Still other critics included Dwight D. Eisenhower’s family, who objected to Gehry’s flamboyant proposal for a memorial honoring the nation’s 34th president. Although the family said it wanted a simple memorial and not the one Gehry had proposed, with its multiple statues and billowing metal tapestries depicting Eisenhower’s life, the architect declined to change his design significantly. As of 2014 the memorial remained unbuilt, with local planning officials again asking Gehry to make revisions.

Gehry did agree to tone down a proposed expansion for Facebook’s Northern California headquarters at the insistence of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who said he wanted a more anonymous look.