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Letter: Building design not meant to be easy

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006 | 11:28 a.m.

Bob Reeve, in his Feb. 21 letter ("Gehry design may be wrong statement") states that we should be careful that the fantasy that "we" are trying to maintain (in Las Vegas) is not easily misunderstood.

If one asked pretty much anyone on the planet about Las Vegas they might easily create some fantasy in their head. Do "we" easily understand all the ramifications of what Las Vegas will mean to everyone?

Formally, Mr. Reeve is correct - there was a proposal for Ground Zero by another architect that has a very similar look to a portion of the proposal by Gehry. I refer to designs for new buildings, not images of the destruction following the attacks on the World Trade Center.

If one looks at images of other Gehry projects, Bilbao, Spain, for example, the vocabulary is there. In this proposal, rectangular openings in the curving pieces are reinforcing the "disaster" image.

I suspect the openings are an early attempt to ventilate the covered exterior/shaded areas. They also help the curved pieces relate to the stacked box forms. I suspect the project is not about easy. I suspect finding cures for Alzheimer's is equally difficult.

David Curtis, Las Vegas

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