Ben Franklin, etc.
2002.11.20 12:17
Franklin Court Museum and Park, 1972-76, [the first virtual house of the 20th century] is the work of Venturi and Rauch Architects, not Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, as R. stated. Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown did not become an entity until 1980.
The next museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia will be the Alexander Calder Museum, with Tadeo Ando as design architect and MGA [the quondam Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, Philadelphia office] as architects of record. The site of the new museum is across the Parkway from the Rodin Museum. Calder is from Philadelphia. His grandfather did the sculpture on Philadelphia City Hall (at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway). His father did the Swann Fountain at Logan Circle (centerpiece of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway). And for years now an enormous Calder mobile entitled Ghost hangs above the Great Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA, at the head of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway). Years ago, tour guides of the PMA, when discussing Ghost, invited visitors to look out the PMA's huge "urban viewing platform" windows and note the order of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
I visited the site of the forthcoming Alexander Calder Museum last Friday. The site is still a park lawn, but there is now a Calder mobile on pedestal gracing the site as well. Additionally, there is an exhibit of three Calder sculptures within the forecourt of the Rodin Museum. I found myself really admiring all these sculptures because I now see a 'real' virtual architecture in them. I took lots of pictures, and I will put together an online display soon.
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