Experience Music Project by Frank Gehry - Seattle, WA
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 37.268 W 122° 20.870
10T E 549003 N 5274398
Quick Description: The EMP houses an interactive music museum and it was dubbed by architects as Frank Gehry’s “Rock Temple”. The building’s undulating form and vibrant colors were inspired by an electric guitar, according to Gehry.
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 6/2/2008 4:23:08 PM
Waymark Code: WM3XZ4
Views: 66
Long Description:The EMP was commisioned by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen to
house an interactive music museum and it was dubbed by architects
as Frank Gehry’s “Rock Temple”.
The building’s undulating form and vibrant colors were inspired
by Gehry’s foray through an electric guitar shops trash bin near
his office in Santa Monica. Guitars were cut apart and played with
until Gehry found the shape he was looking for. Appropriate muses
for a building that Allen dedicated to Jimi Hendrix.
Another way that Gehry’s building breaks with architectural and
sculptural tradition is the use of vibrant colors. Most striking is
a deep pastel blue rendered with non-fading autobody paint. Other
colors are a brilliant red, silver, gold and (my favorite) a
shimmering titanium looking color dubbed “purple haze” in reference
to Jimi Hendrix’s famous song. In fact the name “Experience Music
Project” is taken from Jimi’s famous lyrical question, “Are you
experienced?”
The futuristic building is right at home on its site on the
Seattle Center grounds, home of the 1962 World’s Fair. Its neighbor
is the Space Needle, and nearby are other futuristic buildings,
built with the Seattle World’s Fair’s theme of Science and Space in
mind. In fact, the Alweg Monorail, a transportation system built
for the fair in 1962, passes through a portion of the building. You
can see where the track enters the building in one of the photos in
the gallery.
The building is 140,000 square feet and aerospace software was
used to design the undulating folds of metal found throughout the
building. The 21,000 metal shingles that form the outer shell were
cut by lasers guided by data generated directly from the modeling
software.
The building now also houses the Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame.
For ticket pricing, and the latest concert schedule, check out the
EMP website at www.emplive.org.