Barnes Architect Shortlist

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:

* Tadao Ando, Japan
* Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York
* Kengo Kuma, Japan
* Rafael Moneo, Spain
* Thom Mayne/Morphosis, Los Angeles
* Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, New York

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.