Publisher Description

On October 3, 2003, the Liberty Bell Center, the new home of the Liberty Bell, was opened to the public. The building, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is one of the highlights of Philadelphia's reconfigured Independence Mall.

This book offers a close look at the building. It presents an extensive set of reproductions and photographs, including records of the design and building process, that thoroughly document the building and its surroundings. The book also features essays that flesh out the building's rich context and its historical background. They include insiders' accounts of the design process as well as critical maps of the constellation of forces that come into play in shaping a building of this significance and quality.

Long Description

The interior offers one of architecture's great pleasures: the joy of being in a comfortable, well-lit, well-built space. As you stroll among the exhibits, you ascend a gentle brick slope, guided toward the bell by an undulating and sensuously textured granite wall. The brick and granite are used with honest heft to represent the firm foundations on which our democracy is built; no ersatz plasterboard or carpet here. By the time you reach the bell's chamber, you have been rendered into a state of sober well-being. The Philadelphia Inquirer In October of 2003, the Liberty Bell was given a new home. The building, designed by the Philadelphia-based architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson features three architectural elements: a covered outdoor area, an elongated rectilinear exhibit hall, and a tapered cubic volume housing the Bell Chamber. Liberty Bell Center: Building for Democracy is the most detailed look to date at the building--presented here is an extensive set of reproductions and photographs, including records of the design and building process which thoroughly document the building and its surroundings. The book also features essays that flesh out a rich context for the architecture, while offering the insiders' account of the design process as well as the critics' map of the constellation of forces that come into play in shaping a building of this significance and quality. Liberty Bell Center comes with a DVD and a poster that displays the floor plan of the building with photographs and illustrations of the various vantage points.

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