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Five years after the Philadelphia Museum of Art completed a $230 million rebuild of its interior designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, it will now alter some of that renovation to expand the capacity of its educational programs.
The museum has received a $20 million gift from Lois and Julian Brodsky to rebuild parts of its North Entrance into the Brodsky Learning and Engagement Center.
“It’s a game changer for us,” museum director and CEO Daniel Weiss said. “Historically we’ve taken very seriously our educational mission, but we haven’t had dedicated space that allows us to do it at the level we would like.”
Designed by Gehry, the major overhaul was the most extensive change to the building since it opened in 1928 and included multi-function rooms off the North Entrance corridor that could accommodate education programs.
Since then, the museum has re-evaluated its needs. Weiss said the renovation will create more purpose-built and dedicated spaces for education.
“The Gehry project was a very ambitious re-envisioning of how the museum would look and function, but for all of the ambition of that project, it did not include dedicated space for education,” he said. “We are going to take this space that’s been beautified by Frank Gehry and his team, but we’re going to transform it into a space that actually works for what we need it to do.”
