View Full Version : [Cleveland] Peter B Lewis Building - Frank Gehry
Recently I found myself visiting the city of Cleveland, Oh. It was overcast and cold but what do you expect during the winter? :) Anyhow, I made it over to Case Western Reserve University to visit the school of management named after the main benefactor, Peter B Lewis (according to Gehry he donated half of the 35 million it cost to build it).
The images I took were just of the exterior of the building. I could only make the trip during the week and so I couldn't have access to the inside. The security in the building was tight and for good reason. Several years ago, I learned, a hostage situation happened at this building and several people were killed, as well as the hostage taker taking his own life. Anyhow, the building is only open to the public on Saturdays and for pre-arranged tours.
the University is West of downtown Cleveland and is just a short drive from the downtown area. You could see the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame (I.M. Pei) and be at the Gehry building in about 10 -15 minutes.
If you are flying in to town you can jump on the RTA (Rita as the locals call it) train at the airport and take the east line to the Euclid E120 stop. This puts you about a block or so from the building (see posted image).
The building is definetly worth seeing and is very accessible from a parking lot just down the street (metered parking)... the streets are side streets and the campus life is fairly normal with students going to and from classes and their living quarters.
Also Check out Galinsky HERE (http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/peterblewis/index.htm) for more about the building and some other general directions on how to get to the building.
Also the complete set of images I took from my Flickr Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84279479@N00/sets/72057594081703930/)
and the Peter B Lewis schools page HERE (http://weatherhead.case.edu/) (also called the Weatherhead School of Management)
google earth map of the relationship of the building to downtown and the airport. the red line is the rail line that will take you from the airport to the University.
This is an aerial image of the block the building sits
and here is the KMZ file for the google earth-ers...
This first image is looking toward the building from Ford Drive where I parking at the corner of Euclid Ave. (US 20) and Ford Drive. The buildings that surround the Gehry building are conservative and mostly of brick and architecture from the mid to late 1900's.
another approach image from the same direction. This is facing the main entry side of the building.
This image is looking at the building from the corner of Ford and Bellflower... The main entry where you are confronted by security is at the corner...
and here is the entry to the building (same corner). And yes, that is my girlfriend posing for the all important scale :) she's such a trooper...
this image is of the side of the building along Bellflower and is the "official" front of the building (though there is several points of access to the building and just a small one from this elevation but it acts as the formal from along the street).
here is another image of the front from the entry corner at Ford
and one more of the front
the opposite corner from the Ford and Bellflower corner, but still on the front side...
This image is of the side just around from the corner above... there is no entry here but a balcony is on this side, though not sure how much use it gets...
another shot of the side from the small park adjacent to the building...
close up of the forms from the side... the way the brick worked with the free flowing forms worked really well I thought and makes for some great images...
and a close-up of the form and glass at the side
This image is of the rear entry... I thought I would be able to get in here to see some of the inside but it had a security key entry :(
an image just a little closer of the rear entry...
here is the rear side walkway that seperates the building from the Case Western Law School. And my girl is going all out on this one :D and it didn't cost me too much...
here is looking down the walkway back out on the sidewalk along Ford Drive
and here is the building seen from the oposite side of the Law school building...
and finally here is an image of the building from East Blvd. looking across the practice field...
I was a bit disappointed that the sun wasn't out so my images could have been more vibriant but I am still happy to have the chance to see the building and walk around it and take some images...
This was the 3rd Gehry building I have had a chance to see and I must say I wasn't a big fan of his while studying in school, But, since I have had the opportunity to see a couple of his buildings, I must say I have a great appreciation for Gehry's work now. I haven't been to one that I didn't like...
I also have some other images of noteworthy buildings I took but it seemed the weather just didn't want to cooperate with me on this trip... I will post some images later of the Wexner Museum by Peter Eisenman (on a new thread of course :)) so stay tuned...
and if anyone has images of the interior of this building please feel free to post then to this thread... I did walk into the entry at the security desk and had a quick look but I didn't get too much of a view :(
takesh h
14-03-2006, 06:54
Thank you so much for wonderful photos.
Now you made me really want to see the interior, so I went out to look for them.
Here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterlares/tags/peterblewisbuilding/) are what I found.
I agree the weather wasn't on your side wizum. The edges of metal-clad parts are kind of blending into grey sky.
Anyway, no doubt a great addition to our photo library. We love you! :cheers:
Wow, that bricks definitely reminds me of the Best Stores by SITE.
Beautiful pics Wizum. You've done a great collection here!!
I'm glad you guys like em... I'm am hoping to get up to see some more stuff in the next month or so in Columbus and Cincy... when I went through both cities I got nothing but rain so the pics I did take weren't that great... though I will probably post my pics of the Wexner, as I mentioned... Hopefully also in the near future I will be posting some images from Scoggins Elam Architects, which have a bunch of buildings where I live in Atlanta... stay tuned :)
winnabago
15-03-2006, 20:04
I have a few of the interior from back when it first opened, before the incident. Anyway, they're over at flickr presently. I invite everyone to take a look. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/winnabago/tags/peterblewis/)
The real challenge is to get photos of Peter's 5000 sf house in the ohio hills...
emptyful
15-03-2006, 20:28
Nice thread, wizum. Maybe it's just the weather and flat light, but the contrast between the bricks and the... is it titanium?... cladding just feels wrong to me; the textures clash like 70's dayglo. Maybe a completely different feel under a nice blue sky, though.
I took the liberty of horking one of your flickr shots of the interior, winnebago. I have to point out that this stairway just screams lousy design to me: the railing down the middle of the thing is obviously there to keep you from depositing chunks of scalp and hair on the wall as you pass. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Gehry's work, this one just seems unusually flawed.
Thomas+son
16-03-2006, 15:10
Great photos, I think the good side of having an overcast day = was it really brings out the joints of the metal cladding. I can appreciate the thought that went into laying out the joints in an artful way.
2page 6th post/photo down-
was the glass in those upper brick windows curved or was it flat on a slope. (just a small detail, I am interested in)
Nice thread, wizum. Maybe it's just the weather and flat light, but the contrast between the bricks and the... is it titanium?... cladding just feels wrong to me; the textures clash like 70's dayglo. Maybe a completely different feel under a nice blue sky, though.
I took the liberty of horking one of your flickr shots of the interior, winnebago. I have to point out that this stairway just screams lousy design to me: the railing down the middle of the thing is obviously there to keep you from depositing chunks of scalp and hair on the wall as you pass. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Gehry's work, this one just seems unusually flawed.
I think you would see a big difference, or contrast, between materials on a sunnier day... From images I have seen elsewhere that seemed the case... I am not sure of the metal material that was used but I can find out... I have a write up about the building in one of my books on Gehry's work...
I actually don't mind the way the stair is done here... The railing is there probably for code issues... don't recall the exact IBC code but after so much width of a stair you have to provide a railing... but my guess is that this protects from the angled wood wall leaning toward the stairs... or that it was just easier, or cheaper, to do the railing free standing verses engaging it to the wall somehow...but there is always stuff like this in buildings, regardless of how good the overall design is, that aren't the best of details but I think we sometimes can get way to caught up in them...
does this really effect the functionality of the stair? The stair still works, you still walk up and down it with, what looks like plenty of room for two people to pass on the stair...
though I would agree it would be much nicer, more probably to the aesthetics of the sculptural quality, if that railing wasn't there...
Great photos, I think the good side of having an overcast day = was it really brings out the joints of the metal cladding. I can appreciate the thought that went into laying out the joints in an artful way.
2page 6th post/photo down-
was the glass in those upper brick windows curved or was it flat on a slope. (just a small detail, I am interested in)
from what I remember and looking at the image you pointed out there was no "curving" windows... they were angled and flat...
jparchitectus
16-03-2006, 15:52
Nice job - You are getting like Swanke_e with his token scale girl friend in the shots :D
:)... someone mentioned that before on some other pics I posted... funny thing was I told my girlfriend about it and she thought it was funny so she kept getting in the way of my pictures or intensionally got in the picture...
channing
20-03-2006, 05:31
wiz,
nice shots. thanks. :cheers: but, ya know; it may be me, but i'm just tired of franky boy. i studied his architecture in depth while in school (late 80's / early 90's)and truly appreciate his contribution to architecture, but i'm just so bored with the crumpled paper buildings and the disney concert hall/bilbao archetype (for lack of a better word). :puke:
perhaps he is done pushing the envelope............. :(
imasayer
20-03-2006, 16:53
wiz,
nice shots. thanks. :cheers: but, ya know; it may be me, but i'm just tired of franky boy. i studied his architecture in depth while in school (late 80's / early 90's)and truly appreciate his contribution to architecture, but i'm just so bored with the crumpled paper buildings and the disney concert hall/bilbao archetype (for lack of a better word). :puke:
perhaps he is done pushing the envelope............. :(
I agree, I think he has stopped innovating and entered the realm of style.
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