As I have blogged about before, I went this year to the USA with the Sheriff of Nottingham to look at World class attractions – in the anticipation that we could transfer some ideas back to Nottingham with a Robin Hood theme. When I looked through the thousands of images I took in the year I wondered what was my favourite building in the year. And the winner was – The Experience Music Project / SciFi Museum in Seattle.
The experience music project - Seattle
The building split the group of us – a marmite moment!
Exterior facade of EMP - Seattle
I loved it.
EMP Seattle - Ghery architecture at its best!
It was designed by Canadian architect Frank Ghery He said “I wanted to evoke the Rock’n'Roll experience without being too literal about it”. His client was Paul Allen (of Microsoft fame). Ghery was the first person to use a computer modeling system called CATIA – which was used in the aerospace industry. As he said – “we did a building by computer for a computer guy”!
400 tons of steel was used – on top of which are laid 21,000 aluminum and stainless steel shingles. At the heart of the centre is the Sky Church – with a 70 ft high ceiling and the worlds largest LED screen it is an amazing place.
I think it is where art and architecture merge. It is challenging – the colours are amazing. And the wow factor is high! We had mixed views about what was inside the building – but that doesn’t take away from the building itself!
It was my favourite building in 2009. By a country mile!
