The Frank Gehry-designed Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is scheduled to open in Las Vegas in 2008.

It doesn't take a genius to see that architect Frank Gehry still holds dear the days when he played with building blocks. But it's what he does with those blocks now that perhaps borders on sheer genius.

On Wednesday, Gehry's work will go on display at the Las Vegas Art Museum, 9600 W. Sahara Ave., where it will run through March 25. The exhibit follows the progression of models he used to create the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, scheduled to open in Union Park near the Clark County Government Center in 2008. The center is intended to foster research toward a cure for diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's.

The exhibit will include 120 models that show the building from its conceptual design -- seen as building blocks in their primary colors and various sizes -- to the completed model.

"The exhibit is all about the design process," said Renee Coppola, the museum's deputy director. "Gehry is very tactile in his approach. Where other architects deal with computers and numbers, he uses a stream of consciousness."

This is the first time Gehry's models have been on exhibit in a start-to-finish manner. The importance of this was not lost on Libby Lumpkin, the museum's director.

"This is his first design show," she said, "so it's great for (the museum) to start out at the top."

As one follows the displays, the process of creativity moves from simple blocks stacked atop one another to those with more thoughtful pairings. Successive models show how those pairings are crafted together with more balance and precision. Then landscape suggestions come into play, along with colored paper and acrylic resin blocks that show where glass walls will be. Later models bring out still more detail, with grids for trellis work, penciled-in windows, vellum paper for delicate translucent features and twisted paper that suggests a wavelike roof line.

"This qualifies as a design exhibition, not so much a fine art one, although Frank Gehry is the most sculptural of all architects in the international spotlight," Lumpkin said of the architect known for designing the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. "He uses artistic principals as much as architectural ones to create buildings."

Lumpkin added that when she was approached about the display, she had no idea the extent of the project.

"I figured there'd be maybe 50 objects," she said. "I had no idea he made this many models."

Actually, 15 models are missing. They were pillaged by the architect's team for use in subsequent models.

Through its Adopt-a-School program, the museum will make the exhibition, including transportation, available to about 2,500 Clark County students. The museum has partnered with the school district to offer educational programs related to the exhibit, such as integrated language, abstract sketching, and how shapes can morph into other objects.

"We always hope there's that one child out there that's inspired to become an architect," Lumpkin said.

Because the exhibition is not self-explanatory, docents will guide tours through the maze that is the mind of Frank Gehry. They will be available to those without an appointment each Saturday at 2 p.m.

Likewise, when students come to see the exhibition, docents will take them in small groups, the better to keep small hands at bay.

"It's going to be a Catch-22," said Katie Anania, education assistant. "Here we'll have students thinking about the process and how he's a hand-on architect, so the 'no touching' thing is really making me sad."

The museum also will make a portion of the exhibit -- including a 16-foot-long primary model -- available for free viewing in its annex studio, located on the west side of the building it shares with the Sahara West Library.