Green light for the Gehry project in Washington DC

Given the premise that, when in 1999 he won first prize in the competition for the enlargement of the Corcoran Gallery and College of Art, Gehry himself was very surprised. "Me and Washington? It ain't gonna work. But we got here", is what he admitted to the commission before he knew the results.

Finally, last October 18, the Commission of Fine Arts gave the green light to the construction which should start by 2003 and be completed in 2006. In the meantime, some changes have been added to the original project - for instance, the main entrance has been reoriented towards New York Avenue but it is intended that the present entrance remain open, too - and others are currently being studied, such as the necessity of protecting the building and its large glass atrium from possible terrorist attacks, or the possible substitution of stainless steel for the more expensive titanium (already used at the Guggenheim in Bilbao).

The new wing, which will double the current space and whose cost is estimated at 120 million dollars, visually connects the present building (the Corcoran, Washington's oldest museum, designed by Ernest Flagg and completed in 1897) to the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects.

http://www.corcoran.org
Frank Gehry design for Corcoran Gallery of Art, Presentation Model 2001. © Gehry Partners LLP Photo Whit Preston. North-West view
Frank Gehry design for Corcoran Gallery of Art, Presentation Model 2001. © Gehry Partners LLP Photo Whit Preston. North-West view
Frank Gehry design for Corcoran Gallery of Art, Presentation Model 2001. © Gehry Partners LLP Photo Whit Preston. The interior
Frank Gehry design for Corcoran Gallery of Art, Presentation Model 2001. © Gehry Partners LLP Photo Whit Preston. The interior

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