The Barnes Foundation Announces a Short List of Six Internationally Recognized Architecture Firms to Design World-Class Center for Education and Art to be Built on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia
April 27, 2007, Lower Merion, PA - The Barnes Foundation announced today the selection of six highly respected and
innovative architectural firms as short-listed candidates for the design of a new 120,000-square-foot facility in Center
City, Philadelphia. They are, in alphabetical order:
In making this selection, the Barnes Foundation has taken a major step toward constructing on the Parkway a new center for
the Foundation's educational programs and home for one of the world's finest collections of Impressionist,
Post-Impressionist and early modern paintings.
After reviewing the qualifications of an extensive list of national and international architecture firms, the Building
Committee narrowed the field to these six outstanding firms in consultation with Martha Thorne, Executive Director of
the Pritzker Architecture Prize who is advising the Foundation during the selection process with the assistance of
Professor Gary Hack, Dean and Paley Professor at the School of Design, at the University of Pennsylvania and Suzanne
Stephens, editor and architecture critic.
The Building Committee is comprised of Aileen Kennedy Roberts, the Honorable Jacqueline F. Allen, Andre F. Duggin, Agnes
Gund, Stephen J. Harmelin, Esq., Joseph Neubauer, Dr. Neil L. Rudenstine, together with Barnes President Derek Gillman.
Aileen Roberts, Chair of the Building Committee said: "A thoughtful and rigorous process has given us a focused list of
candidates whose design philosophy, creativity, and technical approach match the vision of the Barnes Foundation and
demonstrate a keen sensitivity to our goals. We are thrilled with the firms on the short list. They embody the highest
ideals and represent the very best of architecture."
The Building Committee now plans to visit buildings designed by each of the firms and expects to announce its final
selection by late summer.
The Barnes Foundation's new facility, to be located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, will house the institution's
world-renowned art collection in a gallery that will replicate the scale, proportion and configuration of the
existing gallery in Merion. In addition, the new building will provide substantial space for art education programs,
as well as a gallery for special exhibitions; facilities for conservation, research and support services; areas for
visitor services, retail and events; and administrative space.
By creating a new gallery in the center of Philadelphia, in the proximity of several other leading cultural institutions,
the Foundation will be able to ensure its long-term viability. The new building will increase the capacity of the
Foundation's educational programs and realize 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." Currently located in a 12-acre arboretum, the Paul Cret-designed Gallery houses 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.
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For more information, contact:
The Barnes Foundation
Andrew Stewart, 610 667 0290 x1567 or astewart@barnesfoundation.org
Ruder Finn Arts & Communications Counselors
Natasha Le Bel, 212 715 1644 or lebeln@ruderfinn.com
ABOUT THE ARCHITECTS
Tadao Ando founded Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in Osaka, Japan in 1969. Self-taught and influenced by
traditional Japanese architecture and his study of buildings and structural design in the United States, Europe, and
Africa, Ando combines modern Western architecture and the simple geometric forms of traditional Japanese buildings in
his work.
Tadao Ando Architect & Associates became known first for private residences and housing designed in the 1970s and the
Japanese churches of the 1980s, such as the Church of the Light in Osaka and the Church on the Water in Hokkaido. The
Church on the Water overlooks a shallow artificial lake created by the diversion of a nearby stream. Since the 1990s the
firm has designed a number of museums such as the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum (1992), the Koumi Kogen Museum, Nagano
Prefecture, Japan, (1997), Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima, Kagawa prefecture, Japan, (2004) and several commissions for
museums in the United States such as the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis (2001) and the Modern Art Museum
of Fort Worth, Texas (2002).
Ando is the recipient of the 1995 Pritzker Architecture Prize and the 2002 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal,
and this June was named recipient of the Kyoto Prize for lifetime achievement in the arts and philosophy.
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Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a New York City based firm originally founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio
in 1979 and joined by Charles Renfro in 2004. They are particularly well known for their interdisciplinary approach to
architecture and are often associated with an understanding of architecture that unites cultural and architectural theory
and criticism with design, performance and multi-media.
DS+R consists of 38 employees and is currently working on a variety of projects for Lincoln Center in New York City,
including a 45,000 sq. ft expansion of the Juilliard School and a complete renovation of Alice Tully Hall. They are
also working on the master plan and architectural design of the High Line, an elevated railway stretching 1.5 miles
in the Chelsea area of New York City. Their recently inaugurated Institute of Contemporary Art, the first new art museum
to be built in Boston in 100 years, opened to popular and critical acclaim. The 65,000 square foot building sits on Boston
Harbor. The building design successfully creates a dynamic civic building and a contemplative atmosphere for viewing
contemporary art.
The DS+R studio was awarded the National Design Award in Architecture from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National
Design Museum in 2005. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio were recipients of the MacArthur Foundation "genius
award" in 1999, the first ever given in the field of architecture.
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Kengo Kuma established Kengo Kuma & Associates in Japan in 1990. He has said that his architecture often follows
the idea of 'Sukiya' which represents a combination of transparent design and natural materials, which lead to the creation
of open and airy environments.
Projects include the LVMH Group Japan headquarters completed in 2003, Suntory's Tokyo office building, the Stone Museum,
Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture (1998), Nasu History Museum (1998), Masanari Murai Art Museum, Tokyo (2004), Nagasaki Prefectural
Art Museum (2004) and the Kodan apartments scheduled for completion this year.
In addition he has held a professorship at Keio University's Faculty of Science and Technology since 2001 and he frequently
lectures at other institutions. Also devoted to his writing activities, Kuma is the author of five books including the
best-selling Shin Kenchiku Nyumon (New Introduction to Architecture; 1994). He is a leading lecturer and writer on
contemporary Japanese architectural theory.
His numerous residential works, museums, and other public facilities have received on-going critical acclaim and have won
him several national and international awards including the prestigious Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 1997,
International Stone Architecture Award, Italy 2001, and the Spirit of Nature: Wood Architecture Award, Finland, 2002.
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Rafael Moneo, who established his firm in Madrid in 1965, is considered one of the most important figures in
Spanish architecture today. Moneo's architecture is known for rich interior spaces and an attention to the craft of
building. All his works are especially conscious of ideas of place and site, displaying an understanding of the unique
circumstances and contexts of each new building.
The firm, numbering almost 40, undertakes a broad range of work both in Spain and throughout the world. In Spain, his
projects include, among many others, the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida (1985), the Pilar and Joan Miró Museum in
Palma de Mallorca (1993), the annex for the town hall of Murcia (1999) the Kursaal Auditorium and Congress Center in San
Sebastián, the new Mother's and Children's Hospital in Madrid (2003) and the large and complex extension of the Prado
Museum in Madrid, due to open later this year. In the United States, Moneo has designed the Davis Museum and Cultural
Center at Wellesley College (1993), the Audrey Jones Beck Building of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (2000), the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles (2002) and the Laboratory for Integrated Science and Engineering under
construction at Harvard University.
In 1992, he received the Spanish government's highest honor, the Gold Medal for Achievement in Fine Arts. In 1996, he
received the Pritzker Architecture Prize and in 2003, the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The
citation for the former noted his great success in "creating a balance between tradition and innovation."
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Thom Mayne founded the Santa Monica, California-based architectural firm Morphosis, with former partner Michael
Rotondi in 1972. Morphosis's design philosophy arises from an interest in producing work with a meaning that can be
understood by absorbing the culture for which it was made. The word "metamorphosis" (from which the name Morphosis is
derived) means a "change in form or transformation." The firm's working method values contradiction and change, and
understands each project as a dynamic entity.
Important projects completed by the firm of more than 30 professionals include Diamond Ranch High School, Pomona
California (1999), University of Toronto Graduate Housing, Toronto (2000), Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los
Angeles (2004), University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center (2006), and the San Francisco Federal Building (2006).
In addition to his professional work as a practicing architect, Thom Mayne has been active in the academic world throughout
his 30-year career. He is a founder of the influential and progressive Southern California Institute of Architecture,
and he has been a visiting professor and lecturer at institutions and universities around the world.
His distinguished honors include, among others, the National Design Award for Architecture (2006), Pritzker Architecture
Prize (2005), Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy of Design in Rome (1987) and the 2000 American Institute of
Architects / Los Angeles Gold Medal in Architecture.
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Tod Williams and Billie Tsien formed their collaborative practice in New York in 1986.
The studio, which employs around 30, 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. Williams has a seasoned foundation in the practice of architecture
beginning with over six years as an associate in the office of Richard Meier before starting
his own practice. Tsien brings to architecture a background in the Fine Arts and a keen
interest in crossing disciplinary boundaries.
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), the Mattin Art Center,
at Johns Hopkins University (2001).
They have recently completed a bio-engineering building at the University of Pennsylvania,
and the East Asian Library at the University of California at Berkeley is scheduled to be
finished in the autumn of 2007.
Williams and Tsien have received several awards for their work including the Brunner Award from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture, the Chrysler Award for Design Innovation,
the President's medal from the Architectural League of New York, and the Medal of Honor from the American Institute of
Architects, New York Chapter.
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300 North Latch's Lane
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