ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Cleveland's Peter B. Lewis Building

Updated on June 30, 2016
The Peter B. Lewis Building
The Peter B. Lewis Building

In 2002, the campus of Case Western Reserve University became home to another of architect Frank Gehry’s distinctive undulating metal roofs — in this case, one that appears to be cascading over, and consuming, the remaining brick portion of the structure.

This is the Peter B. Lewis Building, a facility housing classrooms and offices of Case’s Weatherhead School of Management. Named for the Chairman of Cleveland-area-based Progressive Insurance Companies, the building was constructed at a cost of a cool $61.7 million (of which total Lewis paid 60%). That total secured a building containing 150,00 square feet of floor area, distributed among eleven classrooms, five seminar rooms, four meeting rooms, a lounge, and faculty offices spread across six levels.

The buildings free-form roof, clad in over 20,000 stainless steel roof shingles, waves and warps over what was once a rectilinear brick box with taut windows; the brick volume occasionally bends and waves in response. Within, there are no rectilinear corners to be had. Whenever walls are not curved, cusped, concave or convex, they are canted and cut at unexpected angles. Linear air slots mimic the linear fluorescents that illuminate the interior. The monochromatic white interiors take on only the tints of ever-changing daylighting and shadowing on warped forms.

An unfortunate aspect of the building is its siting. Cramped as it is within a fairly densely populated area of the Case campus, its sculptural qualities are for the most part concealed, or encountered only by surprise, in tightly constrained framed views. Odd that the University would pay such a premium for a world-class sculpture/building, yet tuck it away so completely. A second flaw is that the building’s undulating forms put winter passersby at risk from falling ice and snow — so much so that the building must often be cordoned and caution-taped.

The Weatherhead School claims that the unique and innovative structure (which is not so unique and innovative, however, that it might not at first glance be taken for Bilbao or Disney), is indicative of the unique and innovative business education within. At over $410 per square foot, however, some feel the building is not much more than a pricey bauble that gives Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland, bragging rights in having a building by a celebrity architect. For even more of visual interest, see rickzworld.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)