洛杉磯．夜未央: East Coast Tour (14) － Vontz Center for Molecular Studies by Frank Gehry

December 02, 2003

East Coast Tour (14) － Vontz Center for Molecular Studies by Frank Gehry

Been lazy for a while...I am lazy. I am lazy. I am lazy. I am sick. Got flu recently...can I use it as my excuse for being lazy? :p

Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, one of the buildings of University of Cincinnati's "Signature Architect" program, designed by Frank O. Gehry, costed 65 million, completed in 1999.

"Why isn't it clad in metal panel?" was my first reaction to this building at the first glance of it. I guess I just saw too many pictures of Gehry's Bilbao Gugenheim Museum or Disney Concert Hall. It's been said that the original design was metal clad or similar materials like some of Gehry's projects. Bricks became the chosen material due to economical consideration. I don't know if it's true. But, the exterior material, brick, does match better with surrounding buildings and go with landscape. On the other hand, the prefabricated brick panel lack of authenticity and details. It couldn't convince you that it's something other than mere veneer. Or could it?

Another feature of this building you wouldn't ignore is its multi-story windows. They are windows of arbitrary shapes framed by aluminum(?) protruding out of its body a bit. Honestly speaking, these windows look a litte bit like "quick study model" made by architectural students to us when we first saw them. We thought maybe they could be refined. But maybe they are right for its sculptural form?

Despite some "flaws" observed, I still enjoy watching the whole sculptural compostion in a distance sitting in a hilltop nearby. I was thinking, maybe this design is just right for a building in a university campus resting in a corner of busy streets. The sculptural form makes it unique enough to be a signature building, and the brick helps toning down queerness of unusual shapes and making a better transition between the buildng and the context.