An Asymmetrical Evening

Rebekah and I were super lucky and scored two tickets to last night's Grand Opening of the Bloch Building for Benefactors and Patrons of the Nelson-Atkins. The event kicked off around seven o'clock and ran well into the evening. The following are just a few of the pictures I took as the evening went on. Click on the images, or here, for the full photo set.

The main entrance from the pedestrian level, just before sunset. It is simply a magnificent space. The lobby is just a precursor to the dramatic story that Holl tells as you move throughout the galleries. I immediately took my camera from my pocket and went into attack mode, but then reminded myself that this world class building is right in my backyard. I can come and take pictures whenever I want. Tonight was a night for mingling among the tuxes and ball gowns worn by the elite of Kansas City, a crowd that Rebekah and I have no real business matriculating with. Non-the-less, it was a night to remember and we meet some great people.

This crowd had gathered outside of the Noguchi Sculpture gallery. The man with his back to the camera, hands in his back pockets, and sliver hair is non other that Steven Holl. This was the only time I saw him all evening, just for a moment before he wandered back inside his creation and disappeared for ever. I imagine the majority of the people there had no idea who he was, or why what he had done was so spectacular. At least the engineer we ran into in the line for the bar wouldn't have known. He didn't seem to impressed with the space. He just didn't understand what all the hub-bub was about. "I had a friend in New York tell me this building was written about in the New York Times, can you believe that?!?" He exclaimed with a ghastly look on his face. I wanted so bad to reply, "Yes, well, that and every other architecture publication in the free world." Another couple told us that before tonight they had thought the new addition was a Butler Building constructed out of metal.

I had to pull out the old tux I purchased for choir in high school. Luckily the pants were adjustable and I was able to squeeze into it, rather generously might I add. Anyway, I decided to go with a bit more modern look and drop the bow-tie in exchange for a simple black neck tie and loose the vest all together. None of this matters of course, because with a lady like that on my arm, no one noticed my tux!

As the sun went down the building began to take on new character. Almost an inverse of the atmospheric light it became illuminated from the ground up before transforming into the glowing lenses that spot the landscape.

As the majority of the crowd began to thin out we basically had the place all to ourselves.

Bekka took a moment to rest and looked perfectly at home against the polished plaster, glass and light.

These art installations marked the exit for the evening as the remaining guests waited for their cars.

I'm sure I'll post more on the building soon. It was, in all reality, one of the most breathtaking museums I've seen anywhere in the world. And that's saying a lot considering not more that three weeks ago I was walking through Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin, a spatial experience that pales in comparison to Holl's masterpiece. More on the comparison later, that's a different post for a different day...