Gehry already has a long list of projects that are impressive, including his plans to design the future basketball arena for the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

The arena, on which London-based Barclay's Bank will be spending about $300 million to have it named after its institution, was announced on Thursday.

Gehry attended the announcement, which was hosted at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, along with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, rapper Jay-Z and NBA Commissioner David Stern.

On Friday, he rubbed elbows at a lunch table with Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson, and he faced a room of people, some of whom had never before heard of him.

Although Gehry should be accustomed to popularity, as he casually mentioned meeting Clint Eastwood and talked about turning down Donald Trump multiple times, the "starchitect" says he likes the anonymity Utah County can give him.

He also doesn't mind that Lehi is little, compared to other cities he has worked in. In fact, it's one of the reasons Gehry agreed to take the project.

"It's very enticing, because when you do something in a big city, the bureaucracy runs at you," Gehry said. "When you can get into a smaller place where you can actually have lunch with the mayor, it all leads to a much richer project."

Although Johnson may enjoy having lunch with Gehry, his eye is on something else, and it's not the fame that could come to Lehi with a well-known architect.

Johnson is most excited about the project's proposed lake, which Andersen has agreed to let Lehi use as a secondary irrigation reservoir. The city would be able to store water in the lake and use it when necessary.

"That is of a rather sizable financial value to Lehi," Johnson said. "So all of this that they're doing is going to be a nicety on top of a necessity."

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