Inside Out: Frank Gehry’s Strata Center
Every once in a while everyone needs to get out of their comfort zone.
That’s why I look forward to working on my bi-monthly Art Card. It’s an opportunity to open myself up, to experiment with and explore different subjects and art forms. My artist friend Liz De Betheune and I run an Art Card Group, initially started by Mia and Annie (two of Liz’s sisters), with 18 artist members who create original postcard-size art based on an assigned theme, and exchange cards with other members. The latest theme was Positive/Negative.
Ever since Liz and I selected the theme, I kept thinking about Frank Gehry and the Strata Center at MIT. After finally revisiting my Cambridge photos from June, I realized that a key design element that dazzles me is Gehry’s masterful use of 3-D positive and negative space to energize buildings in surprising ways, both in the exterior and interior.
Frank Gehry is a prize winning contemporary architectect who literally turned modern architecture on its ear by removing right angles and straight lines from his architectural vocabulary, and introducing new, innovative materials with contrasting surfaces such as corrugated steel and shiny metal. Gehry designed the Guggenheim Museum Bilboa in Spain, his most renowned work that has become a major tourist destination in its own right – and is certainly on my bucket list.
While I had seen several Gehry complexes before, such as Gehry’s home in Venice, CA, the IAC Building off the West Side Highway in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, and the newer and expansive Millennium Park Pavillion in Chicago, I had never been as captivated by them as much as by the Strata Center. This huge innovative complex takes up 750,000 square feet, and is both an inspiration and counterpoint for the heavy-duty scientific research that goes on inside its walls (unlike any other walls I have seen, that’s for sure!) – an ever-present reminder to think outside the box.
From the street, the outside of the Strata Center looks like a series of unexpected moving shapes and unique structures that is strung together temporarily, deconstructing traditional norms along the way. A plethora of materials greet you. Textured brick surfaces mingle with polished metal creating pulsing forms of contrasting colors and shadows.
Fortunately, for the first time, I was able to go inside a Gehry building, where my senses were initially overwhelmed by the dynamic design of interior space – a positive and awe inspiring thing in this instance. Vibrating space pushed and pulled, turned and twisted, contracted and expanded. Walking on the higher floors was somewhat challenging and disorienting initially as the walkways whooshed around. Unlike most buildings, I could see where I wanted to go, but couldn’t get there.
The unexpected use of strong color on the inside increased the feeling of drama. In the hour that I had, I was only able to walk around a small part of the complex. Next time I’ll wander around the roof, a concept that Gehry essentially redefined.
I thought it was interesting that Bill Gates sponsored one of the Strata Center towers, and that Mark Zuckerberg chose Frank Gehry to design the new Facebook headquarters. What a bold and exciting statement! And how appropriate that the tech world is not just content with revolutionizing our social experience, but is now turning our brick and mortar world inside out too. Hopefully, I’ll have a chance tour the new Facebook headquarters when it opens in 2015.
Ultimately, I decided to work with my Gehry Strata Center photos for this my art card contribution. I started by assembling a composite of several interior shots in a folding rectangular format, a rather traditional concept in the end.
By eliminating the mental restriction of a rectangular shaped card, the idea felt more like Gehry in spirit. So I created a second card.
The card has an element of surprise by unfolding into something much larger (over a foot long) and unexpected, mimicking my experience with the Strata Center on a micro level. I was happy with my Positive/Negative contribution and mailed both of them in the end.
Thanks to the Art Card Group for keeping me from being too complacent, and encouraging me to explore new paths and grow as an artist. One day I’ll even buy Photoshop and really move out of my comfort zone!