Thursday, June 30, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
UNLV building named for author
CORRECTION ON O7/01/05 -- The Clarke Foundation hopes to keep the cost of its proposed building at UNLV between $50 million and $75 million. The amount was incorrect in a story Thursday.
Arthur C. Clarke Center for Imagination and Opportunity to reflect his legacy
By K.C. HOWARD
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A UNLV building intended to enhance the human imagination will bear the name of the author of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
For the past 10 days, architecture students have been creating a design for the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Imagination and Opportunity to reflect the legacy of the science fiction author.
A panel will review the drawings today and pick a winner. The winning concept will be incorporated into the final design for the building, which the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation intends to fund.
"In an astonishingly short time our species has managed to create really wonderful things," said foundation Chairman Tedson Meyers. "Around the middle of that last century we also learned how to destroy ourselves. Why don't we try to find those people who can help us think of a way out of the predicament we put ourselves into? That is essentially what this is about."
Meyers said the center will study imagination. Where does it reside in the brain? How can it be developed?
Visiting scholars will do research on creativity and students from all disciplines will be able to benefit from their work, he said.
Meyers, a telecommunications attorney in Washington, D.C., hopes construction will be completed in three years. But he said he does not know the size of the building.
The structure will be located across from the university, he said, but there are numerous sites for consideration. He hopes to keep the cost between $15 million and $75 million. Then, he also hopes to obtain funds for an endowment to run the center, meaning the state won't subsidize the project.
Upon approval from the Board of Regents, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' honors college will house the center so that all disciplines, schools and departments will have access to it, said Stephen Rosenbaum, honors college dean.
Yale University Professor Robert Sternberg, who specializes in studying imagination, is expected to come to UNLV in September as a Clarke Foundation speaker, he said. There is also hope Clarke, who is now 87 and living in Sri Lanka, will permit his archives, including his manuscripts and letters, to reside at the center.
His foundation chose Las Vegas as a residence for the center about three years ago.
