2004.12.17 18:58
afternoon field trip
Took some pictures of the Youth Study Center on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, future site of the Barnes Foundation.
Then crossed the Parkway to the future site of the Alexander Calder Museum, where about a dozen different Calder sculptures--'stabiles'--are scattered on the present park lawn.
Last year, when I went to see the smaller, prior exhibit, I mentioned here that I really like the 'virtual architecture' that Calder's stabiles evoke, and the many new pieces continue to inspire. I now have this desire to make virtual stabiles via 3d cad. In any case, seeing the exhibit up close (as opposed to just driving by in a car) is well worth the trip.
Then I went to the Free Library (initially just to get a particular book) and I remembered that the long library of Briar Hill is actually part of the Free Library's Rare Book Department, so I went to take a look at it. Not only is the room completely paneled in the Georgian style with light brown oak(?) with lots of knots showing, but all of William Elkins' books and the original library furniture are there as well. I didn't have time to take pictures, but the librarian definitely wants me to come back. The construction documents for Briar Hill (Trumbauer, 1929) are also in the Rare Book Department collection, and I can take pictures of them as well.
Took pictures of soon to be quondam building, visited museum exhibit without the museum building there yet, entered room that moved from inside one Trumbauer building to inside another Trumbauer building. Where do I get my best ideas?
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