Health
Center

Health Center

Armature for Health Center reconstituting Roman form in Lexington, Kentucky. The height and width of the building is a reflection of three-story buildings nearby. Behind the "Roman wall" will be seen a series of gardened terraces descending to the curved street facing the Civic Center. The higher part of the building can be used for saunas, exercise, dance, gymnastics, shops for exercise equipment and other health related functions. The circular building with columns, each different and of changing diameters, done by individual craftsmen, houses a health food and juice bar with sidewalk tables at street level and roof garden above. The framework controls its general diameter and shape, moving from an approximation of classical order to sloped piers influenced by Gaudi's famous columns in the Parc Guell. This transition from one column to another reinforces the image of continuum. The pseudo triumphal arch, broken away from the other structures so its partially exposed frame becomes a scaffolding for people's art, marks a stairway and houses a lift to the bridge, which is shown here in rudimentary form intended to invite redesign by others. On the second level, extending from the bridge, is a row of artists' studios and workshops, with rents subsidized by an agency of the public realm, as is done in Toronto's Eaton Place by the art Commission of Canada. This second level is identifiable as a pedestrian street through the entire site and can become part of a new network of pedestrian spaces that will help recover the city from the automobile. Above the artist studios is a third level open rooftop with sunbathers sheltered from the wind by canvas "sails".