The Philadelphia Museum of Art Opens to the Future

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has unveiled a series of newly renovated spaces by architect Frank Gehry, a major step in accomplishing the institution’s twenty-year Core Project master plan adopted in 2004. Centered on a dramatic great hall and floating staircase, Gehry’s design has added 20,000 square feet of gallery space, transformed former back-of-house spaces into gracious public promenades, installed state-of-the-art mechanical systems, and reoriented entrances to join the museum to surrounding neighborhoods. Although home to world-class collections, the Philadelphia Museum is probably most familiar for the scene in the classic movie Rocky in which Sylvester Stallone jogs up the exterior stairs. Gehry’s renovations were guided by a desire to preserve that immediately recognizable Greek-temple form and monumental prospect…