"On September 21st, 2025, Philadelphia will see the opening of Calder Gardens, a new park and museum shaped by Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf. Rather than presenting a monumental museum, the project frames Alexander Calder's work within a lush, layered landscape that gradually reveals its structure and galleries as visitors move inward from the city. The project occupies a city rich with the Calder family's history. Alexander Calder's grandfather and father both left their mark on Philadelphia, and works by all three generations line the Parkway."
"From the Parkway, a long tapered metal wall forms an austere backdrop to the meadowed garden, softening the sound of nearby traffic and leading to a wood-lined entry beneath a folded metal canopy. The architecture remains deliberately understated. A circular disc at the center creates a plaza and conceals the main galleries below ground, while two sunken gardens - one perfectly round, the other irregular - bring daylight into the galleries and offer distinct settings for Calder's sculpture."
Calder Gardens opens September 21, 2025 in Philadelphia. Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf designed a park-museum that embeds Alexander Calder's sculpture within layered meadows. The landscape gradually reveals architecture and galleries as visitors move inward. The site ties to a Calder family legacy across the Parkway. A tapered metal wall frames the meadow and leads to a wood-lined entry beneath a folded metal canopy. A central circular disc forms a plaza and conceals galleries below, while two sunken gardens bring daylight into exhibition spaces. Interior galleries vary in light and scale, including a mezzanine Highway Gallery, the sunlit Open Plan Gallery, and intimate Apse and Curve rooms.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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