While traveling to the World Market Center in Las Vegas for the Interior Design Society's National Conference last month I stumbled upon this building. It was twilight and I couldn't see the structure very well. I thought it was a derelict building that was falling down! Landscaping was scrubby and unkempt.
As I passed this building twice a day, it always drew my attention. From the other side of the building I could see that it was some kind of office. But in discussion with someone at the conference I found out that it was created by Frank Gehry! Well, I wasn't surprised at the architect, but I was at the function of this building — the Cleveland Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health!
To me, this building symbolizes the opposite of what it's striving for. In short, is scrambles your brain! It has no symmetry and calmness, which is what I believe people with brain disorders require in their healing process. The south side of the building, which is a event forum, appears to be melting. Even the north side of the building, relatively normal, where the offices and patient rooms are located, is according to one blogger "a jumbled, unsettled collection of boxy forms."
In Feng Shui, we use adjectives to describe the type of ch'i imbued by a building or space because those words evoke a feeling or emotion about the space. And because mind, body and spirit are connected, those words also say a lot about how our physical bodies respond to a building as well. We need to be extremely mindful of creativity for the sake of creativity, especially when we are dealing with our health.
Unsettled, jumbled, scrambled, melting – these are not words that I would like to associate with a building for brain health!
What do you think?
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