One of Paul Rudolph’s more unusual creations, the Harrington Cancer Center fragments the volumes and roofs of a large building into linear and angular shards laid out on a grid. Arms surrounding a court and extending to the porte-cochere evoke the figure of a crab ( cancer is the Latin word for crab). Sloping red tile-clad roofs evoke a regional character as the building slopes down its hillside site; the building’s faceted geometry contributes to this geomorphic interpretation. The center’s brick and scored concrete exterior is punctuated by projecting angled windows with serrated brick edges.
Nearby, at 1721 Hagy Boulevard, is the Potter-Randall County Medical Society (1965, Hucker and Pargé), a building on a raised base with six small pyramidal roofs rising above a flat roof with broad eaves. A similar configuration can be observed at the adjacent Amarillo Garden Center (1968, Hannon and Daniel; 1400 Streit Drive) located in the Amarillo Botanical Gardens in Medical Center Park. The Botanical Gardens are also home to the dramatically profiled, glass-roofed Mary E. Bivins Tropical Conservatory (2006, Edward Mazria).