In a special exhibit to open this summer, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will display the comprehensive plan that Frank Gehry has created for the renovation and expansion of its home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Museum officials recently released renderings of Gehry's final design, which reorganizes and expands the building, adding more than 169,000 sf of space. The project will ultimately transform the interior of one of the city’s most iconic buildings, enabling the museum to display much more of its world-renowned collection.
Gehry’s design focuses on the transformation of the interior of the Museum through the renovation of beloved spaces such as the Great Stair Hall and major improvements to how visitors will enter and move through the building. The design also calls for the creation of a significant amount of new space for expanded educational activities and the display of the museum’s extensive holdings of American, Asian, and modern and contemporary art in new galleries created both within the existing building and underneath the East Terrace.
"We began by studying the character of this wonderful building—its DNA, so to speak. It is rare to have the bones of the existing building show you the way to expand it," said Gehry. "From there, we used the significant assets that the original architects gave us to create a strong entry sequence and circulation pattern that connects the new galleries to the existing building in a way that makes the new galleries seem like they have always been there. My goal is to make the building feel like one coherent design statement."
A cross-section view showing the changes to existing interior spaces and the new underground galleries. Rendering: Gehry Partners
Given the prominence of the Museum’s main building as a landmark, minimal changes have been proposed for the exterior by Gehry Partners and OLIN, the noted Philadelphia firm specializing in landscape architecture, planning, and urban design. These changes include:
• The redesign of the plaza in front of the west entrance and the landscaping of a substantial portion of the area now used for parking on this side of the building.
• The integration of skylights and sunken gardens into the east terrace to bring natural light into the new galleries that have been proposed.
• The addition on the northeast and southeast corners of the building of stair enclosures that will be simple in form and clad in the same sandstone used on the exterior in order to be as unobtrusive as possible.
By contrast, many significant changes have been proposed for the interior, yielding an increase of 124,000 sf of public space, including 78,000 sf of gallery space throughout the building. Other changes address access and circulation through the varying “ground” levels of the facility.
Forum Gallery: The heart of the museum will be opened up, creating a clear sight line through the ground-floor and first-floor galleries that will greatly simplify wayfinding. Rendering: Gehry Partners
At present, visitors enter the museum on the first floor through the east entrance and the Great Stair Hall or on the slightly lower floor through the west entrance and Lenfest Hall. The Gehry design will open new spaces to explore, such as the Forum and new galleries under the East Terrace.
Among the interior changes are:
• The renovation of the two principal public entrance spaces in the museum: Lenfest Hall and the Great Stair Hall.
• The creation of a new public space, or Forum, immediately below the Great Stair Hall in the center of the U-shaped Museum building. The forum will dramatically improve circulation on this floor and open up the east-west axis at the center of the building, enabling visitors to reach the new galleries and adjacent public spaces that Gehry Partners have proposed be built below the East Terrace.
• The relocation of a variety of back-office functions to add nearly 23,000 sf of new gallery space within the existing building; the creation of a new 10,000-sf education center; and the development of new visitor amenities, including a restaurant, café, and spaces for the museum store.
• The creation of 55,000 sf of new space for the presentation of special exhibitions and works from the collection in galleries underneath the east terrace. Ranging in height from 24 to 28 feet, with a vaulted ceiling supported on slender columns, these new galleries will be among the largest and most spacious in the entire Museum. Open in plan and filled with natural light, they will provide an ideal setting for the display of modern and contemporary art.
• The reopening of a public entrance on the north side of the museum. Closed to the public since the 1970s, this monumental arched entrance adjacent to Kelly Drive will be renovated to provide access to a grand vaulted corridor—part of the original design of the building—that runs 640 feet from the north to the south side of the building. This walkway will provide access to the new galleries through a long, vaulted arcade and will intersect with the new Forum directly below the Great Stair Hall, thus providing access to the entire building for visitors entering on this level.
• A new 299-seat auditorium equipped for lectures, performances, and public events, to be located underneath the northwest terrace of the main building and directly accessible from the new public entrance facing Kelly Drive.
• The adaptation of the center portion of the top floor of the U-shaped Museum building to create meeting and event spaces, and the replacement of the brick in the pediments with glass to provide dramatic views of the city and Fairmount Park.
Level C Galleries: The new underground galleries will be lit in part by a skylight in the East Terrace. Rendering: Gehry Partners
“Given the ambitious scope of the plan, it has been designed in separate phases that can be implemented as funds become available," said Gail Harrity, the Museum’s President and COO. "This work must begin with—and be sustained by—an inspiring and persuasive vision of the future, recognizing that it will take years to implement the brilliant plan developed by Frank Gehry and his partners.”
The Building Team includes:
Architects: Gehry Partners, LLP, OLIN
Structural/civil engineer: Magnusson Klemenic Associates
MEP engineer: AltieriSeborWieber
BIM consultant: Gehry Technologies Inc.
Life safety/fire protection: Hughes Associates
Lighting consultant: L’Observatoire
Daylighting consultant: Loisos + Ubbelohde Associates
Theater/AV consultant: Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Specification writer: CG Associates
Environmental design engineering: Atelier Ten
Waterproofing consultant: Henshell & Buccellato, Consulting Architects
Acoustical engineer: Cerami & Associates
IT/AV consultant: Shen Milsom & Wilke
Security consultant: Ducibella, Venter & Santore
Vertical transportation: Lerch Bates, Inc.
Exterior enclosure: Gordon H. Smith Corporation
Urban design: Urban Strategies Inc/JZTI
Historic preservation architect: Kelly/Maiello Inc.
Cost estimation: AECOM
Site survey: Pennoni Associates Inc.
Geotechnical engineering: Haley & Aldrich
Vaulted Walkway: The vaulted underground walkway, long closed to visitors, will become a space for art and events, with entrances at the north (Kelly Drive) and south (Schuylkill River) sides of the building. Rendering: Gehry Partners
West Terrace. Rendering: Gehry Partners
East Terrace with famed "Rocky steps." Rendering: Gehry Partners
PMA Rendered Plan, OLIN
Related Stories
| Feb 23, 2011
Architecture Billings hold steady after two months of improving conditions
After showing positive momentum during the fourth quarter of 2010, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) slipped almost four points in January. The January ABI score was 50.0, which is down from a reading of 53.9 the previous month, but still reflects stable demand for design services. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings.
| Feb 22, 2011
LEED Volume Program celebrates its 500th certified Pilot Project
More than 500 building projects have certified through the LEED Volume Program since the pilot launched in 2006, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED Volume Program streamlines the certification process for high-volume property owners and managers, from commercial real estate firms, national retailers and hospitality providers, to local, state and federal governments.
| Feb 22, 2011
HDR Architecture names four healthcare directors
Four senior professionals in HDR Architecture’s healthcare program have been named Healthcare directors.
| Feb 15, 2011
Iconic TWA terminal may reopen as a boutique hotel
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to squeeze a hotel with about 150 rooms in the space between the old TWA terminal and the new JetBlue building. The old TWA terminal would serve as an entry to the hotel and hotel lobby, which would also contain restaurants and shops.
| Feb 15, 2011
New Orleans' rebuilt public housing architecture gets mixed reviews
The architecture of New Orleans’ new public housing is awash with optimism about how urban-design will improve residents' lives—but the changes are based on the idealism of an earlier era that’s being erased and revised.
| Feb 15, 2011
LAUSD commissions innovative prefab prototypes for future building
The LA Unified School District, under the leadership of a new facilities director, reversed course regarding prototypes for its new schools and engaged architects to create compelling kit-of-parts schemes that are largely prefabricated.
| Feb 15, 2011
New 2030 Challenge to include carbon footprint of building materials and products
Architecture 2030 has just broadened the scope of its 2030 Challenge, issuing an additional challenge regarding the climate impact of building products. The 2030 Challenge for Products aims to reduce the embodied carbon (meaning the carbon emissions equivalent) of building products 50% by 2030.
| Feb 15, 2011
New Urbanist Andrés Duany: We need a LEED Brown rating
Andrés Duany advocates a "LEED Brown" rating that would give contractors credit for using traditional but low cost measures that are not easy to quantify or certify. He described these steps as "the original green," and "what we did when we didn't have money." Ostensibly, LEED Brown would be in addition to the current Silver, Gold and Platinum ratings.
