The Barnes Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of Olin Partnership, a Philadelphia-based landscape architecture and urban design firm, to serve as landscape architect for its new art education center to be located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. 

Olin Partnership has established an award-winning, international reputation for excellence. In Philadelphia, Olin Partnership has recently been selected to design public landscape improvements around the Rodin Museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. With its selection to serve on the Barnes Foundation design, their work will lend continuity to a significant section of the Parkway. 

The Barnes Foundation and city of Philadelphia have executed a 99-year lease for property along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and design preparations for the new center are well under way. The addition of Olin Partnership rounds out a talented and experienced group of design professionals, including Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects as lead architects; Ballinger as associate architect; Aegis Property Group as external project managers; and William W. McDowell III, senior building project executive for the Barnes Foundation. 

The Barnes Foundation art education center will house its world-renowned art collection in a gallery that will replicate the scale, proportion and configuration of the existing gallery in Merion, PA. The new facility will also provide increased space for art education programs, conservation and research. Placement of the art education center in proximity to other leading cultural institutions in Philadelphia will enable the Barnes Foundation to ensure its long-term viability, while providing greater access to the collection and the foundation’s educational programs. n