Unexpected Beauty

The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently debuted portions of the $233 million renovations designed by Frank Gehry, and, no, they do not feature flamboyant waves of glistening titanium or swirling gestures of wood.  Indeed, many people who expected such histrionics from the famous architect of the Guggenheim Bilbao were disappointed by the understatements that greeted them.

I wasn't.

What Gehry has achieved is a soothing, fluid integration of the new and practical with the old and classical.  The only nod towards flamboyance, the staircase in the new Williams Forum, is something of a disappointment.  Featured in every article and press release about the new spaces, it appears to be a tacked on afterthought leading to or from what is ultimately intended as performance space.  While it awaits performers, however, the forum's daily function is nothing short of an extravagant waste of space.  Eschewing supports beneath it, the staircase bobs and weaves as it descends.  Close inspection beneath it reveals treads made of the same Kasota limestone that graces the original building with hollow back panels made of some composite to which the same "surface" is applied.  This clever solution lightens the load so that supports can be eliminated but does not, alas, give the stairway much grace.  Visitors could be seen ascending and descending the staircase while photographing it from every conceivable angle.

This "disappointment" is minor, however.  (It should be noted that more than a few members of the public did wonder aloud was "this all we got" for $233 million.)

The project is not finished, however; more exhibit space renovations are planned and underway. 

Frankly, while the completed renovations already improve some of the exhibit space, the real star of the "new" museum is in fact an old feature long since abandoned but newly resurrected.  The long barrel-vaulted passageway that serves as the newly re-opened north entrance to the museum is magnificent in its simple, elegant beauty.  New soft, discreet lighting has been added to smoothly, gracefully move visitors along its considerable length, and the glossy brick ceiling gently reflects light.  New floors were laid, of the same Kasota limestone (and reportedly from the same quarry as the original materials), and the entire blending of subtle beiges is soothing and in its dramatic length awe-inspiring.  Many visitors were unaware that Gehry and his team were responsible for these changes.

This entrance had been closed for years and most if not all museum goers (including this one) were completely unaware of its existence.  The museum was compelled to reopen it since the west entrance, the means by which most visitors had been entering the museum for decades, has been closed as further renovations get underway.  When Gehry was charged with renovating and restoring this corridor, he reportedly said "We just had to not screw it up!"  He didn't!  It is the greatest triumph thus far of his ongoing renovations and the pleasures of this corridor provide unexpected beauty.