Underground Philadelphia: Frank Gehry

Philadelphia Art Museum selects Gehry to design gallery space

Associated Press | October 19, 2006

PHILADELPHIA One of the world’s boldest architects, Frank O. Gehry, has been selected to design a large underground gallery space for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gehry is famous for dramatic sculptural buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall he completed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2002. This $500 million (€398 million) expansion will be taking place 30 feet (9 meters) below the Philadelphia museum’s east plaza and within its monumental stone base, not so adaptable to Gehry’s use of swirling forms or titanium-clad fins, but The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday that he relished an underground challenge. Gehry told the newspaper in a telephone interview that his friend Gail Harrity, who oversaw construction of the Guggenheim unit in Bilbao, Spain, and is now chief operating officer of the Philadelphia museum, had asked if he would be interested in a subterranean venture. “I said, ‘Yes. It would be great to try to make beautiful music with a building with no exterior,’” Gehry said. “I love the idea of trying to carve into the ground.” The museum’s plan calls for adding 80,000 square feet (7,200 square meters) of galleries, mainly to house large contemporary sculpture, Asian art, and special exhibits. Gehry said he envisions punching holes through museum floors to create high vertical spaces. Museum Director Anne d’Harnoncourt said the museum board considered more than 20 renowned architects, and chose Gehry because of his skill in sculpting display space and bringing natural light into interiors.