Frank Gehry's Latest Whimsically Warped Metal
Written by Jennifer Heyns
Honestly, if Dr. Seuss and Tim Burton joined forces to design a hospital and research center, it would have looked just like this. There's no other way, really, to describe the immense creativity that went into this Frank Gehry design. The building, called the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, opened in Las Vegas last summer.
Architecturally speaking, there’s no end to the achievements and contributions Gehry has made with this endeavor. The center is basically divided into three sections: a medical and research facility, an outdoor mezzanine with a café, and then there’s that warped, scrap metal-like structure that looks as if you need to approach through the looking glass in order to fit in.
That space is really just for show. It’s an attention-getter, and a grand one at that. It’s called the Life Activity Center (LAC), and it’s where the center hosts galas and does its entertaining—all meant to bring additional interest and funding into the Center for Brain Health.
And the structure is all whimsy. The metal exterior looks like a collection of tall buildings that experienced a time warp or nuclear event of some sort. The result is a building whose parts appear to have collided and fused together to become one bowed random assembly of facades. The extensive LED lighting in the LAC helps gala guests to see their checkbooks more clearly, but also provides an intriguing glimpse at the building at night from passersby in the Vegas area.
The research center is more traditional in the interior. It offers patients and medical personnel a cheerful, yet relaxing place to focus on matters of the brain that they are attempting to further understand, treat and eradicate.
The main features of this building are mostly on the exterior. The structure has a building block feel to it, with each level sitting just slightly back from the last and having alternating blocks sitting forward and back. What completes the mystique are the alternating blocks of glass and solid structures. It’s a little bit typical and a little bit whimsical all at the same time.
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