Philly City Council resolution honors Frank Gehry for art museum master plan

Fresh off of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama last year, starchitect Frank Gehry is now being honored on a local level by the Philadelphia City Council.

Five City Council members have sponsored a resolution that honors the 87-year-old architect, who among many, many other things is responsible for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s master plan, which is scheduled to break ground next week.

Led by Cindy Bass, the resolution honoring the 87-year-old starchitect was introduced in Council’s session on Thursday. Councilmembers Al Taubenberger, Allan Domb, David Oh, William K. Greenlee also endorsed the resolution.

The resolution highlights the details of the master plan, which was adopted in 2006 and revealed to the public in 2014. Next week, the museum will begin work on the first phase, called the Core Project, which the resolution describes as “most complicated phase of the Master Plan and represents the first major interior renovation of the museum since the Main Building opened in 1928.”

Gehry’s Core Project plan calls for adding 26,000 square feet of new gallery space. It will also open the museum’s Vaulted Walkway, which has been closed to the public since the 1960s.

The resolution, which is still in council, ends by proposing that an engrossed copy be placed in a time capsule at the museum’s groundbreaking, “not to be opened until 2067, 50 years from the event.”

As part of next week’s groundbreaking, the museum will have an all-day, pay-what-you-wish open house on Thursday, March 30. Gehry’s renderings and models will be on view.

• Construction on Frank Gehry’s Philadelphia Museum of Art master plan to begin next year [Curbed Philly]
• Resolution: Honoring internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry [Official]