Gehry on Glare
February 13, 2006 | 6:37
am
On Saturday Frank Gehry unveiled for the press his design for the much anticipated Alzheimer's Center to go in downtown Las Vegas. The building model is a marvel: the frontage is stacked blocked units for the researchers and patients with Gehry's distinctive metal and glass waves placed in the back where a banquet hall and open courtyard will create a major venue for events and fundraising. In his remarks, Gehry's spoke mostly about the building in detail but he also proved that recent history was still on his mind, and he had this to say about his latest LA project:
I had some bum rap at Disney Hall because of glare. That was 2% of the building had reflective stuff, and some pissed off lady (complained). So the County had to respond. (It took) A couple guys with steel wool and in about an hour and a half they fixed it. But it did appear as one of the 10 engineering disasters in the last ten years---talk about exaggerating. The county did a study of downtown LA that found 5 other buildings that were more reflective, but no one complained about them. So, we got to get more pissed off ladies.
That night $18 million was raised at the gala dinner and fundraising auction to honor Gehry and California First Lady Maria Shriver. And, when it was all over, someone else kicked in an anonymous $2 million donation.
(photo by Sarah Gerke)
