{"id":18031,"date":"2025-09-15T16:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/18031\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:11:08","slug":"take-a-first-look-at-herzog-de-meuron-and-piet-oudolfs-philadelphia-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/18031\/","title":{"rendered":"take a first look at herzog & de meuron and piet oudolf’s philadelphia oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calder Gardens Opens as a Living Museum in Philadelphia<\/p>\n

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On September 21st, 2025, Philadelphia<\/a> will see the opening<\/a> of Calder Gardens, a new park and museum shaped by Herzog & de Meuron<\/a> and Piet Oudolf<\/a>. Rather than presenting a monumental museum, the project frames Alexander Calder<\/a>\u2019s work within a lush, layered landscape<\/a> that gradually reveals its structure and galleries as visitors move inward from the city. The project occupies a city rich with the Calder family\u2019s history. Alexander Calder\u2019s grandfather and father both left their mark on Philadelphia, and works by all three generations line the Parkway.<\/p>\n

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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 \u2014 one perfectly round, the other irregular \u2014 bring daylight into the galleries and offer distinct settings for Calder\u2019s sculpture.<\/p>\n

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Today, September 15th, designboom visited Calder Gardens ahead of its public opening to experience Piet Oudolf\u2019s meadows in dialogue with Herzog & de Meuron\u2019s architecture in-person \u2014 stay tuned for updates!<\/p>\n

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Calder Gardens, 2025. Photo by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder \u00a9\u00a02025 Calder Foundation, New York \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

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subdued architecture by herzog & de meuron<\/p>\n

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Inside, visitors to Philadelphia\u2019s Calder Gardens<\/a> descend from a modest lobby to a series of Herzog & de Meuron-designed galleries that vary in light and proportion. The \u2018Highway Gallery\u2019 offers a view of Calder mobiles from a mezzanine, while the \u2018Open Plan Gallery,\u2019 set beneath the central disc, receives natural light and frames views of the Vestige Garden. Smaller spaces such as the Apse and Curve galleries provide intimate settings for works on paper and light-sensitive sculptures. The architects<\/a> plan each room to encourage a slow, careful encounter with Calder\u2019s art.<\/p>\n

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Jason Frantzen, senior partner at Herzog & de Meuron, describes the project as \u2018both an actual and a conceptual garden,\u2019 designed in close collaboration with the Calder Foundation and the Barnes Foundation to honor Calder\u2019s legacy while creating \u2018a space for all Philadelphians and visitors alike to discover Calder\u2019s work again and again.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Calder Gardens, 2025. Photo by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder \u00a9\u00a02025 Calder Foundation, New York \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

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lush landscape design by piet oudolf<\/p>\n

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Piet Oudolf\u2019s 1.8-acre landscape surrounds and threads through the architecture throughout Calder Gardens, transforming a once-overlooked site in Philadelphia into a shifting, four-season meadow. More than 250 plant varieties \u2014 grasses, perennials, and woodland species \u2014 form a living composition that changes with weather and time. Paths curve through woodlands, perennial meadows, and tall borders, drawing visitors toward the central disc and framing new views at every step.<\/p>\n

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From the West Woodland Garden\u2019s young oaks to the late-summer prairie grasses that sway near the building\u2019s edge, the landscape designer<\/a>\u2019s planting encourages a pace that\u2019s slow and contemplative. The sunken Vestige and Sunken gardens, visible from the main galleries, are a living hybrid of art and landscape. As Oudolf notes, \u2018Gardens are for everyone.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Calder Gardens, 2025. Photo by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder \u00a9\u00a02025 Calder Foundation, New York \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

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Calder Gardens, 2025. Photo by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder \u00a9\u00a02025 Calder Foundation, New York \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

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Calder Gardens, 2025. Photo by Iwan Baan. Artwork by Alexander Calder \u00a9\u00a02025 Calder Foundation, New York \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calder Gardens Opens as a Living Museum in Philadelphia \u00a0 On September 21st, 2025, Philadelphia will see the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[17563,17211,437,434,435,436,438,146,17564,85,46,17565,7429,17566,2584],"class_list":{"0":"post-18031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-alexander-calder","9":"tag-architecture-in-the-us","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-artsdesign","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-herzog-and-de-meuron","17":"tag-il","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-landscape-architecture-and-design","20":"tag-museums-and-galleries","21":"tag-piet-oudolf","22":"tag-sculpture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}