The Barnes Foudnation Announces Internationally Acclaimed
Architects Todd Williams and Billie Tsien to Design New
World-Class Center for Art Education
September 10, 2007, Lower Merion, PA - The Barnes Foundation announced today the selection of Tod Williams and Billie
Tsien of New York to design its new facility on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City, Philadelphia. The firm was
selected following a unanimous decision by the Foundation's Board of Trustees.
The art education center will house the Barnes Foundation's preeminent collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and
early modern paintings. By creating this new facility in the center of Philadelphia, the Foundation will advance its
educational mission and ensure its long-term viability.
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien's responsive and sensitive approach to the Barnes Foundation's commission will be refined and
developed over the next year. The eventual architectural design 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 and understand the
collection, while replicating the original galleries currently located in Merion, Pennsylvania, consistent with the Orphan's
Court decision.
In addition to providing a substantial increase in space for art education programs, in the form of classrooms and an
auditorium, the new building will 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.
The Barnes Foundation's building committee made its recommendation to the Board after several months of meetings with the
finalists, who included Tadao Ando (Osaka, Japan), Diller Scofidio + Renfro (New York), Kengo Kuma (Tokyo, Japan), Rafael
Moneo (Madrid, Spain), and Thom Mayne/Morphosis (Los Angeles).
The two-stage process invited more than 30 international firms to submit qualifications. After careful evaluation, six firms
were short listed for further consideration. To familiarize themselves with the project, the architects visited the Barnes
Foundation in Merion, saw the new site on the Parkway and met with Building Committee members and staff. The Building
Committee continued its research through the early summer traveling throughout the United States and across the world
visiting numerous buildings designed by all of the six short listed architects. The selection process culminated in an
interview stage where the firms presented design ideas and outlined what they viewed as the opportunities and challenges of
the proposed new facility. Martha Thorne, Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, advised 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 was
tremendously impressed by each one of the final presentations.
"We are very pleased to have reached this important benchmark. On the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, the Barnes
Foundation's new art education center will be available to everybody," said Dr. Bernard C. Watson, Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the Barnes Foundation. "It was Dr. Barnes himself who said that art is not just for the elite, it's for the
'plain people who work every day in offices, shops and factories,' and it is our job to carry out his legacy."
"We are delighted with our decision to build a future with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien," said Aileen Roberts, Chairman of
the Barnes Foundation's Building Committee. "Together we will be able to create a more viable and less restrictive center
for art education that retains the intimate viewing experience of the original galleries and is still the special place
that people love."
"Tod and Billie have demonstrated that they are extremely sensitive to our program, our history and our founding mission,"
said Derek Gillman, President of the Barnes Foundation. "It will be a privilege and a pleasure to work with them to design
the new campus."
"We are honored to have been selected to design the new Barnes Foundation," said Billie Tsien. "We are attracted by the
unique challenges of this project, the rich history of the Foundation and the exceptional quality of the collection. It
is our intention that the new Barnes will do full justice to the visionary collector Albert Barnes and the aspirations of
his educational mission."
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien formed their collaborative practice in New York in 1986. The studio is known for successfully
combining theory and practice, architecture and the fine arts. Its work emphasizes the importance of place and explores the
nature of materials. Williams has a seasoned grounding in the practice of architecture. 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); the American Folk Art Museum in New York
(2001); and most recently, a bioengineering building at the University of Pennsylvania (2006). The East Asian Library at
the University of California at Berkeley is scheduled to be finished in the autumn of 2007. Harmony Atrium project at New
York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is under development, as is a corporate campus in Mumbai, India.
Williams and Tsien have received numerous 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.
The Barnes' Building Committee is comprised of Aileen Kennedy Roberts, the Honorable Jacqueline F. Allen, André F. Duggin,
Agnes Gund, Stephen J. Harmelin, Esq., Joseph Neubauer, Dr. Neil L. Rudenstine, together with Barnes President Derek
Gillman.
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.
|
300 North Latch's Lane
![](images/"shim.gif"){kind=spacer}
