At Princeton U., a Gehry Building Nears Completion

Photographs of Princeton University’s new Frank Gehry building, the Lewis Science Library, show a structure as angled, eclectic, and interesting as any of Mr. Gehry’s recent works. The photos accompany a detailed account of a tour of the new structure, which has an oddly skewed four-story tower, a daring star-shaped opening between floors, and bold interior colors. But the first thing you think, of course, is: Will it leak?

It’s hard not to wonder, in the wake of the lawsuit that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed against Mr. Gehry—especially when you see the photograph of a small but complex glass detail that involves three different glass roof planes, all on different angles, and what appear to be angled glass walls as well. In just that one photograph, pieces of steel jut out in so many directions that the contractors must still be having nightmares, to say nothing of the glass cutters, the caulkers, and whoever in Mr. Gehry’s firm had to make the construction drawings.

The rest of us, however, can look forward to either enjoying or loathing the building, according to our own feelings about Mr. Gehry in particular and high-profile architects in general. Due to open this summer—a year late—the 87,000-square-foot building will house not only the science library but also instructional-technology offices.