World's top architect Frank Gehry brands Paris residents 'philistines' after planning permission revoked

Frank Gehry, the American architect behind the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, is said to be "appalled, shocked and angry" at a French court order to stop building work on his "Cloud", a stunning, €100 million (£84 million) glass-covered complex in western Paris.

The ethereal, multifaceted building was due to house a cultural centre owned by France's richest man, Bernard Arnaud, along with his extensive contemporary art collection and that of his company LVHM – the world's largest luxury goods group, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy.

It would organise temporary exhibitions of the work of established and contemporary artists like Jean Dubuffet and Jean-Michel Basquiat or Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst.

The cultural centre – officially named the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation – is in the final stages of construction on the northern edge of the Bois de Boulogne, a large wood on the city outskirts, in the popular children's park known as the Jardin d'Acclimatation.

When he unveiled the plans in 2006, Mr Arnaud – the world's 7th richest man with a personal fortune of $27.5 billion (£17 billion) according to Forbes – said its goal was "to spread the influence of culture, and the influence of France".

Now, however, his chief architect has denounced certain citizens of France a bunch of "individualistic, uncouth philistines". Mr Gehry's reaction was relayed by Jean Nouvel, France's most famous architect, in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.

He added: "With their little tight-fitting suits, they want to put Paris into formalin. It's quite pathetic."

The "philistines" are a band of dogged local residents waging a vocal battle against "concreting (Paris') green areas".

François Douady, who leads the association for the safeguard of the Bois de Boulogne, told Le Journal du Dimanche: "They want to impose on us a 12,000 square metre building 46 metres high – 20 metres above the trees. We lack greenery in Paris, not museums. I hope this project is razed to the ground."

LVMH argues that on the contrary, the project will increase the size of the surrounding green areas and remove a 1950s bowling alley dubbed an "architectural horror".

But Mr Douady's group won its court battle last month on a technicality, as the judge ruled the centre had been built too close to a tiny asphalt road deemed a public right of way.

The ruling is a bitter blow for Mr Arnaud, who had hoped to score a publicity coup against his billionaire luxury goods rival, François Pinault, the owner of Christie's, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, as well as department and media stores.

While Mr Arnault's luxury group is bigger, Mr Pinault has a far richer contemporary art collection – around 2,500 works of the world's best-known artists of the last 40 years.

Mr Pinault had wanted to house many of these in a mega-museum on the Ile Seguin outside Paris. But after five years of wrestling with red tape, he abandoned the plans in 2005 and took the entire collection to the Palazzo Grassi in Venice instead.

In what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat, a spokesman for LVMH intimated that Mr Arnaud may follow suit. "Does France want to see all its foundations leave for Switzerland, Italy or Germany?," he asked.

Paris' Socialist-led town hall has pledged to appeal the ruling and get immediate authorisation for works to continue.

"This project will go ahead, with respect for the law," said the mayor's urban affairs deputy, Anne Hidalgo.

Jean Nouvel said: "This is a very important building for the history of Paris and architecture."