I`m sitting opposite Frank Gehry overbreakfast in an impossibly pretty sunlit town square in Arles,Provence. He`s here to launch the plans for his "Parc des Ateliers"project, described as a cultural Utopia. But I`m staring at a set ofsquiggles he`s just drawn in my notebook, and wondering if I should askhim to sign them. He`d reached for a pen, as architects in conversationdo, and started sketching away. "I`m doing these pop-up stores forBono," he explains. "They`re for his Product Red company. I`m reallyexcited by them. They`re like pieces of jigsaw."

So he draws a piece of jigsaw, slowly and carefully. Simple enough.A square with a circular bite taken out of it on one side, and twoequivalent circular tabs sticking out of two other sides. Then, movingmuch faster, he draws how that bit twists and interlocks with otherbits. Finally he engages warp drive. His hand becomes a frenzied blur."That`s what it`s going to look like," he says, putting the pen down.The shapes left on the smoking page could be dancing figures,snowcapped mountains, a line of trees, blossoming flowerbuds, leapingsalmon, marching elephants - you know how it is with Frank Gehrybuildings. You see in them whatever you want to see.

I`m left with no real idea what Bono`s stores - profits from which goto provide AIDS-tackling drugs to Africa - are going to look like, butI`m wondering what the squiggles might fetch on eBay, if auctioned forthe cause. Because Frank Gehry is the most famous architect on earth,and has been ever since he completed the titanium-clad BilbaoGuggenheim over a decade ago. Amazingly, this tubby, tanned littlesilver-haired man is 80 next February, yet has millions more Webmentions than any of his rivals, living or dead. Brad Pitt has workedwith him. {"He`s interested in architecture - he came by. He`s asweetheart guy."} He`s been on The Simpsons, the ultimate barometer offame - and is so proud of his Springfield doppelganger that he shows mea picture of his yellow cartoon self that he keeps stored on his phone.And now, he`s just built his own house in London`s Hyde Park. Sort of.