Bjarke Ingels’ firm BIG has revealed designs for the Smithsonian Institution’s 10- to 20-year renovation project of the south mall campus in Washington, D.C.
“The centerpiece of the proposed South Mall Master Plan is the revitalization of the iconic Smithsonian castle,” the firm said in a statement.
More than 150 years old, the castle serves as a visitor information center and the headquarters of the institution. The plan calls for bringing back the castle’s original great hall, which has been altered many times with partitions in the course of its existence.
The plan will also bring more cohesion between the museums and offer generous amounts of retail, cafe, and public gathering spaces.
The plan affects museums and gardens along Independence Avenue S.W. from 7th to 12th streets and will include an expanded visitor services center, new mall-facing entrances to the National Museum of African Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, as well as improved visibility and access from the Freer Gallery of Art to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
“The Master Plan provides the first-ever integrative vision for the South Mall,” said Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in a statement. “Bjarke Ingels Group has given us a plan that will offer open vistas, connected museums, galleries bathed in daylight, new performance venues, gardens that invite people into them, and it will visually attract visitors who will have an unparalleled experience.”
“It’s a great honor and a humbling challenge to reimagine one of the most significant American institutions on the front lawn of the nation’s capital,” said Bjarke Ingels, the founding partner at BIG and the architect of the master plan. “Together with the Smithsonian—with whom we have worked closely over the last year and a half—we have conceived a Master Plan for the south mall campus as an example of radical reinterpretation.
"To resolve the contradictions between old and new, and to find freedom within the boundaries of strict regulation and historical preservation, we have chosen to carefully reinterpret the elements that are already present in the campus," said Ingels. "By forging new links between the various technical, programmatic, logistical and curatorial demands, we have created a new landscape of connectivity and possibility. We believe this plan holds the potential to guide the Smithsonian South Mall Campus into the future while remaining firmly rooted in its heritage.”
More information at designboom.
Related Stories
| Mar 30, 2012
18 handy tablet apps for AEC professionals
Check out these helpful apps for everyday design and construction tasks. Our favorite: MagicPlan, which uses GPS to help you measure and draw a floor plan of any room.
| Mar 29, 2012
U.K.’s Manchester Airport tower constructed in nine days
Time-lapse video shows construction workers on the jobsite for 222 continuous hours.
| Mar 29, 2012
Roller shade operating system wins IF Product Design Award
Design experts in the iF jury recognized the engineering invested in the RB 500 Roller Shade, including a metal clutch with a patented construction, a durable zamac housing with polished finish, and a chain drive unit that excels in maximum operating comfort.
| Mar 29, 2012
Lehigh engineering student wins Thornton Tomasetti Foundation Awards Scholarship
The scholarship is awarded annually to a graduate student in structural engineering deemed by the department to have the potential to make an impact in the field professionally.
| Mar 29, 2012
Construction completed on Las Vegas’ newest performing arts center
The Smith Center will be the first major multi-purpose performance center in the U.S. to earn Silver LEED certification.
| Mar 29, 2012
Apartments provide permanent housing for California homeless
Gonzalez Goodale Architects designed complex to embrace community and engender sense of pride among residents.
| Mar 28, 2012
40 Under 40, the Class of 2012
Chosen from 223 applicants, these 40 young AEC professionals represent the Class of 2012 in Building Design+Construction’s “40 UNDER 40” competition.
| Mar 28, 2012
Milestone reached for LEED-certified buildings?
Total number of major global green buildings now stands at 12,000.
| Mar 28, 2012
Holden Cancer Center opens at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
The new cancer clinic provides a significant increase in patient space from the prior facility, which was located in an adjacent building.
| Mar 28, 2012
Meridian Design Build Begins work on 38 acre redevelopment project
The project includes construction of a new 150,585-sf cross dock facility that will include full service truck maintenance and repair bays, a truck wash, and approximately 20,000-sf of corporate office space.