Being Frank: Design not final

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005 | 6:59 a.m.

Also designed by Gehry

Other buildings designed by Frank Gehry:

The world-renowned architect designing the downtown Las Vegas Alzheimer's center does not know what it will look like -- but does know that it will look nothing like the model that appeared on the invitation for a fundraiser this week.

The model, a photo of which appeared in the Oct. 11 Sun, resembled a pile of square, rectangular and odd-shaped blocks.

"You won't see any similarities" between that model -- one of about 20 of the building -- and the finished design, Frank Gehry told about 100 people at $1,000-a-person fundraiser Tuesday night at Mandalay Bay.

"I don't have an image yet, but the planning is progressing," Gehry said.

The building's final design is expected to be unveiled in February.

Larry Ruvo, who is spearheading the effort to build the Alzheimer's research and treatment center near downtown Las Vegas, said the building will probably feature a 500-seat atrium where convention events would be held.

Dr. Charles Bernick, a neurology professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and the center's medical director, said the part of the building where patients will be treated "will be a very nonthreatening, comfortable place for anyone to come."

"Design is very important in trying to complement what we're trying to do," Bernick said.

He added that the design of the parts of the building dedicated to education and research, which patients likely would not visit, will probably be "more creative"

Janet R. White, an assistant professor at UNLV's School of Architecture who has studied design for Alzheimer's centers, criticized the building design on the invitation. The building looked disorienting, she said, which would be a mistake for a facility to serve people with dementia.

White, who did not attend Tuesday's event, was pleased to learn that the building will not resemble the model.

"The things that make Frank Gehry's buildings exciting for the rest of us can be disastrous for dementia patients," White said.

Gehry, one of the world's foremost architects, was the main attraction at the fundraiser at Wolfgang Puck's Lupo restaurant at Mandalay Bay.

The event raised $300,000 for the $50 million Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Institute, with some attendees contributing more than the $1,000-per-plate figure. Ruvo auctioned off --for $30,000 each -- two chairs that will be designed by Gehry. About half of the money needed for the project has been raised.

The center will probably be one of the first buildings to open on Las Vegas' 61 acres, formerly owned by Union Pacific Railroad.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman envisions the land as eventually being home to a performing arts center, academic medical center -- of which the Alzheimer's center would be part -- office and residential high rises, a new City Hall and possibly a sports stadium.

Goodman and Ruvo told the crowd Tuesday that the Gehry-designed building will be an iconic masterpiece, a work of art that will attract people just to gaze at it.

"Frank, if you don't do it, I'll have you whacked," Goodman, a former mob lawyer, said from the podium, drawing laughter from the audience.

"This will be a place people from all over the world will come to look at, a place where Alzheimer's and diseases of aging will be cured," the mayor added.

In addition to Alzheimer's, the center also will tackle Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Gehry said the mayor and Ruvo were putting a lot of pressure on him, causing "a lot of sleepless nights."

While the center's finished design is unknown, some at Tuesday night's event anticipate that it will meet Goodman's high expectations.

Dan Otter, a developer who traveled to Gehry's California office with Ruvo and others recently, said Gehry starts with a project's basic pieces, using blocks to model what the final design might be.

"They just play with these blocks," Otter said. "I have no idea what it will look like, and I don't think Gehry has any idea. He's an artist."

Dan Kulin can be reached at 259-8826 or at dan@lasvegassun.com.