Today, as home to global corporations such as Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, McCaw, and Starbucks, the city is in the midst of what the Seattle Times has called the Age of Philanthropy. In 1996, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen commissioned Frank Gehry to build the Experience Music Project, a museum devoted to popular music. Neither the program nor the building is a success. The visual display of music has proved a slippery conceit—how many record jackets and vintage guitars can you look at?—and Gehry's roiling composition of multicolored forms, meant to recall a shattered Fender Stratocaster, according to the architect, is shallow and unconvincing. Benaroya Hall (designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects), home of the Seattle Symphony, is functionally successful—the hall is said to have admirable acoustics, and the building fits snugly into its downtown surroundings. But the exterior is an uninspired mix of architectural clichés; it could be anywhere.