New Barnes Twists: Architect Hiring, Judge Demands

August 28th, 2007
By Jim Mc Caffrey
The Bulletin

Philadelphia - There were two significant developments this weekend in the effort to move the Barnes Foundation's $3 billion art collection to a new home on Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The one most have heard of by now - because it was leaked to The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer prior to the release to other reporters yesterday morning - is that the New York architectural firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects has been hired to design the proposed new Barnes Gallery on the parkway.

The other development - like many of the accusations and events surrounding the legal effort to keep the Barnes collection in Merion Station curiously under-covered by local news outlets - is that Orphan's Court Judge Stanley Ott issued an order to the Barnes Trustees telling them they must respond to last month's filings by opponents of the move.

The petition asks the court to reconsider its decision to break the founder Dr. Albert Barnes' will and allow the collection (which may be valued low at $3 billion, a recent Los Angeles Times article estimated the value at twice that much) to move to Philadelphia.

The filing accuses Barnes trustees (among other things) of neglecting their fiduciary duty to consider all reasonable alternatives to moving (and the costs associated with moving) in their excitement and haste to move the collection to Philadelphia - a charge the board must now publicly answer.

Williams and Tsien are business partners who also happen to be married. They have offices on Central Park South in New York.

The firm has Philadelphia connections. The most tenuous, perhaps, is that Williams and Tsien together hold the Louis I. Kahn chair at Yale University. Kahn was one of Philadelphia's most famous architects.

Tsien taught at the University of Pennsylvania and, together with Williams, designed the award winning Skirkanich bioengineering lab on the 200 block of S. 33rd St. on the Penn campus.

They are multiple winners of AIA National Honor Awards most recently for their American Folk Art Museum design in New York.

Williams and Tsien were selected after a list of 30 firms was whittled to six finalists.

Williams and Tsien were awarded the commission over Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York, Osaka's Tadao Ando, Tokyo's Kengo Kuma, Spain's Rafael Moneo, and Thom Mayne/Morphosis of Los Angeles.

Barnes Director Derek Gillman, a member of the Board's Building Committee, pointed out yesterday the selection met the board's self-imposed deadline for naming an architect by the end of summer.

He acknowledged one of the great challenges for the new architects would be Judge Ott's requirement that the new building replicate the rooms in the current gallery.

Gillman openly acknowledges this requirement but insists the board does not have to submit the design to the court for approval.

"It's time for us to focus on delivering a great project," he declared.

The director stressed Tod Williams Betty Tsien is a firm "that doesn't like to take on too much at any time."

He believes the Barnes commission will receive a great deal of the firm's attention.

"We are attracted by the unique challenges of this project, the rich history of the Foundation and the exceptional quality of the collection," Tsien said in the Barnes press release. "It is our intention that the new Barnes will do full justice to the visionary collector Albert Barnes and the aspirations of his educational mission."

Gillman confirmed there were no drawings submitted to demonstrate what the any of the design firms might have in mind before the selection was made.

He conceded one of the reasons Williams Tsien was chosen was for their willingness to work with the court's demand that any new space replicate the rooms in the current gallery.

There is no deadline for submitting the design. Gillman said he expects it will take about a year.

Parking is one of the challenges facing the Barnes on the Parkway. Ironically, parking is one of the issues driving the Barnes out of Lower Merion.

Gillman agreed with any new building on the Parkway parking is an issue. He said it is still being looked at. The director left open the possibility The Barnes Foundation will work on parking in conjunction with what would be its Philadelphia neighbor, The Free Library of Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Mark Schwartz, counsel for the Friends of the Barnes, a group dedicated to keeping the Barnes collection in Lower Merion and author of the petition being considered by the Orphan's Court, continues to aggressively question and attack the Barnes Board.

In the petition Schwartz accuses the board of shirking its fiduciary duty to consider all its options. The Board has rejected a Montgomery County offering the Barnes "at least" $50 million.

Schwartz's petition additionally charges many of the 11 Barnes board members have conflicts with other businesses and boards they work with.

He notes the almost three years ago the Barnes Foundation insisted it must have 15 board members. Judge Ott granted that request. The board still has not filled all of the seats.

Finally, unnoted by the largest local news outlets, Schwartz alleges the collection will never go into a new gallery in the Parkway.

He claims there is a conspiracy Government officials, wealthy foundations, and board members to add the Barnes' art to the collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Many have noted PMA did the very same thing to the Johnson collection 70 years ago.

Before the Barnes can be built the Foundation has to acquire the land the city has promised it, Schwartz notes. The site is now occupied by Philadelphia's Youth Study Center - a facility that has so far stymied attempts move it.

"I am not aware that this new architect has the ability to design combined use facility incorporating a world class art collection with a juvenile detention center," Schwartz commented in a mocking and amazed tone. "I am also not aware that such a building could be built on casters to roll back and forth among the various sites."

Schwartz notes the new building would double the size of the current gallery.

He concludes the gallery therefore cannot by definition replicate the current gallery as Judge Ott ordered.

Schwartz argues the board's promise to replicate the gallery is fiction.

"Where's the 15 board members they promised?" he asked pointedly. "Where's the money? Where's the design? Where's the Director of Art Education they promised?

"This project is nothing but a benefit for the Philadelphia Bar Association and the architects of the world.

"Are they replicating the Merion gallery? No.

"Can it be replicated? No.

"The problem here, as Judge Ott said a couple of years ago, is the board."

Schwartz claims attorney Ralph Wellington of Philadelphia's Schnader firm wrote to Judge Ott asking him not to bring the trustees into the case.

The Judge, however, had already issued the order.

"Serving on a board is not the cocktail party it used to be," Schwartz noted. "There's a real liability they face when they make decisions as a board. They have an absolute fiduciary duty. They cannot have a divided loyalty."

Gillman retorted, "I think ordering the response was a very sensible thing to do. They will all respond to the judge's order through our counsel.

"We are lucky in this country. We have a good legal process and we have a good judge."