This building was designed to express the dynamic music it celebrates, and emblematize the city that introduced the term "rock and roll" in the mid-1950s. Simple geometric forms are juxtaposed to combine diverse functions within a unified whole. A theater cantilevered over Lake Erie on one side balances a circular performance drum on the other while a 165-foot-high orthogonal tower rises from the water to engage a tetrahedral glass tent. Like an explosive musical chord, the sculptural components reverberate out from center.