The Building

I.M. Pei, architect of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building in Washington, D.C. and the expansion of the Louvre Museum in Paris, has designed for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum a spectacular, sculptural building that expresses rock’s raw power. It is the ideal home for the museum’s dynamic presentation of the living heritage of rock and roll and its enduring impact on global culture.

Rising about the shore of Lake Erie, the building is a striking composition of bold geometric forms and dramatically cantilevered spaces anchored by the 162 foot-high tower. “In designing the building,” says I.M. Pei, “it was my intention to echo the energy of rock and roll. I have consciously used an architectural vocabulary that is bold and new, and I hope the building will become a dramatic landmark and symbol for the city of Cleveland and for fans of rock and roll around the world.”

The material palette is simple: “white” architectural concrete at the base walls of the building, off-white aluminum panels with deep reveals in a contrasting gray for the skin of the interior and exterior tower volumes, gray window mullions and framing for the clear glass tent, with a charcoal gray floor material. The large tubular steel bow trusses supporting the tent are painted off-white to match the tower. The interior wall surfaces of the tower within the glass tent duplicates the look of the exterior. The light color of the tower volumes provides dramatic sculptural background to the activity within the tent especially when lighted at night. The interior balcony railings, visible from the building’s exterior, are made of glass and stainless steel, in keeping with the materials of the escalators. The interior and exterior soffits and ceilings are made of the linear aluminum panel system using perforated and acoustically treated units painted to match the tower walls.

The promenade level exterior and planter walls are constructed of architectural concrete. The gradual long sweep of the curved plaza wall provides a powerful background to landscaping on the site. A portion of the wall enclosing the service area and facing public access from East Ninth Street along the promenade provides a backdrop for large scale public art appropriate to the project.

The building is composed of a 162-foot tower that rises from the waters of the harbor. Two bold, solid geometric shapes containing exhibit spaces explode from the tower as large cantilevered elements. The tower also serves to anchor a monumental, triangular-shaped glass tent supported by immense tubular steel bow trusses. The glass tent is anchored along its wide base at the public plaza to provide a dramatic main entry facade.

Approximately 150,000 square feet of building space houses approximately 50,000 square feet of exhibition area in addition to administrative areas, library/archival areas, large public circulation areas, and support functions.

The $92 million, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is the centerpiece of Cleveland’s North Coast.

About the Building

• Overview
• The Building
• Architect Ieoh Ming Pei
• Public Spaces
• The City
• History of the Museum