Gehryâs Quiet Interventions Reshape the Philadelphia Museum
No billowing sails of glass or glimmering titanium in the renovation of the museumâs Beaux-Arts home. Equally surprising are several new shows and the American galleries.
Gehry Partners reestablished the vaulted walkway, left, a Guastavino-tiled corridor spanning the length of the main building, as a main access in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Piranesian switchback staircase, right, is Gehryâs âonly concession to showiness,â our critic says.Credit.Steve Hall, via Philadelphia Museum of Art
May 30, 2021, 8:38 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA â You know whatâs chicer than spending a ton on a landmark building? Spending a ton and barely showing it.
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Philadelphia Museum of Art completes major renovation, new galleries phillyvoice.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from phillyvoice.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Redesigned Lenfest Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art West Entrance opens onto a soaring event space and new galleries. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
For decades, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has known it needed more space. Recently, architect Frank Gehry helped them realize they had the space they needed the whole time.
About 90,000 square feet has been carved out of what used to be staff office space and a vaulted corridor running underground for 640 feet, spanning the entire footprint of the museum, unused for nearly 50 years.
This weekend, the museum unveils its “Core Project,” a major renovation project four years in the making. The centerpiece is a forum space with 40-foot-high ceilings with a dramatic switchback staircase connecting the underground lower level to the first floor at the west entrance.