The Art Museum's Gehry Plot

I assumed that the Philadelphia Museum of Art's selection of Frank Gehry as the architect for its 10-year, $500 million, underground expansion would be cause for cheering among those who have always felt that the city's cultural elite suffered from a vestigial Quaker reticence. But I underestimated the ability of Philadelphians to gripe about just about anything. I've been receiving emails suggesting that the choice was really just the usual Philadelphia caution in disguise, since Gehry's galleries will be located entirely within the belly of the museum and won't be visible from the street. One correspondent even suggested this fabulous conspiracy theory: The museum chose Gehry because that means the Barnes Foundation won't be able to pick him to design their new home on the parkway. Philadelphia's gets to wave the avant-garde flag without having to look at it!

Actually, I think Gehry is an inspired choice by the art museum. He's a wonderful sculptor of space. He may be one of the few architects who will be able to making those catacombs below the Beaux-Arts museum feel exciting and fresh. Gehry's not unerring, as Paul Goldberger's analysis of his Brooklyn project shows, but it will be interesting observe the marriage of a converted Angelino with one of Philadelphias most august institutions.