The Barnes Foundation and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Announce Selection of Associate Architect for New Art Education Center
Ballinger, a Philadelphia firm, named as callaborator on project
January 9, 2008, Lower Merion, PA - The Barnes Foundation and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the New York firm
selected to design the Foundation's future Art Education Center on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, today announced
Philadelphia based Ballinger as associate architect for the highly anticipated facility.
Ballinger was selected from a field of eleven internationally recognized architecture firms. Tod Williams Billie Tsien
Architects, along with the Barnes Foundation Building Committee, narrowed the field to a short-list of four candidates.
After careful consideration, two firms were selected as finalists in the highly competitive process. Ballinger, with its
local associations and significant experience serving as associate architect on many well known projects worldwide, won
the commission against a very strong field.
"We are very pleased to welcome Ballinger, an architecture and engineering firm with a wealth of experience and a proud
history in Philadelphia, as a collaborator in the design and execution of the Barnes Foundation's new Art Education Center,"
said Dr. Bernard C. Watson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation. "Ballinger's impressive body of work,
together with its extensive local knowledge, makes it an excellent partner for our lead architects Tod Williams and Billie
Tsien."
"Ballinger is a two-hundred person multi-disciplinary firm with a tremendous amount of experience serving as both lead and
associate architects. We look forward to having such talented and experienced architects collaborating with us and we will
be utilizing their expertise in all aspects of this project from the early design phases on through the construction of the
building," said Tod Williams, Principal of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
Founded in 1878, Ballinger was the first firm in the United States to merge the disciplines of architecture and engineering
into a single professional practice. The firm has achieved national recognition for its creative approach to technologically
complex assignments. Notable local projects/clients include Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Merck & Co, Comcast,
Pennsylvania Hospital, Temple University, Wills Eye Hospital, and University of Pennsylvania.
Project team leaders at Ballinger - Ed Jakmauh, Craig Spangler, Eva Lew, Simon Tickell and Todd Lynch - are Philadelphia
residents with a passion for art, education and the area's well-known institutions.
"As Philadelphians we are very excited and look forward to participating in the design and creation of what will be a
landmark facility and institution for the City," said Ed Jakmauh, Principal of Ballinger. "Our local experience will
compliment the efforts of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien as a vision comes to life for the new Barnes Foundation Art
Education Center."
"The selection of Ballinger is another step toward constructing an internationally important center for art education that
will house the Barnes Foundation's peerless collection, and to implement the mission conceived by Dr. Barnes," said Derek
Gillman, President of the Barnes Foundation.
Last week, the City of Philadelphia and the Barnes Foundation formally executed a lease for the four-and-a-half acre site
between 20th and 21st streets and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The land will soon become The Barnes Foundation's new Art
Education Center and will house the institution's world-renowned art collection in galleries that will replicate the scale,
proportion and configuration of the existing galleries in Merion, PA. In addition, the center will provide a substantial
increase in space for art education programs, in the form of classrooms, seminar rooms, and an auditorium. The new building
will also include much-needed facilities for conservation, research and administration; a gallery for special exhibitions;
a retail shop and restaurant; and areas for special events and visitor services.
By creating a new Art Education Center in Philadelphia in proximity of several other leading cultural institutions, the
Barnes Foundation will be able to ensure its long-term viability. The new location will allow more access to the Barnes
Collection and to the Foundation's educational programs, thus realizing more fully Dr. Albert C. Barnes's mission of
enabling individuals to appreciate aesthetic qualities.
About the Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the
appreciation of the fine arts." The Galleries house one of the world's largest collections of Impressionist,
Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso,
Rousseau, Modigliani, Soutine and de Chirico, as well as Old Master paintings, important examples of African
sculpture and Native American ceramics, American furniture and metalwork, and antiquities from the Mediterranean
region and Asia.
About Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien formed their collaborative practice in New York in 1986. The studio, which totals around 35
people, is known for successfully combining theory and practice, architecture and the fine arts. Their work emphasizes the
importance of place and explores the nature of materials. Completed buildings include: Feinberg Hall at Princeton
University (1986) The Neurosciences Institute, in La Jolla, California (1995), the Phoenix Art Museum, Phase I completed in
1996 and a second one recently completed, the Cranbrook Natatorium (1999), and the Mattin Art Center, at Johns Hopkins
University (2001). They have also recently completed a bio-engineering building at the University of Pennsylvania, and the
East Asia Library at the University of California at Berkeley.
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For more information, contact:
The Barnes Foundation
Andrew Stewart, 610 667 0290 x1567 or astewart@barnesfoundation.org
Ceisler Jubelirer
Larry Ceisler, 215 735 6760 or larry@cj-llc.com
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300 North Latch's Lane
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