Part 1 in a Series on Unbuilt Washington Imagine you are traveling into Washington, D.C., from northern Virginia. As you approach the Potomac River, you see the tall, craggy, medieval-looking towers of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Bridge looming in the foreground, largely blocking the view of the National Mall beyond. Once you reach the […]
By Andrew Caruso On September 20, 2011, the National Building Museum hosted Grace La and James Dallman of LA DALLMAN, for Spotlight on Design. National Building Museum Online. Contributor Andrew Caruso recently held a conversation with La and Dallman about their prominence among the country’s emerging design voices, their balance of strategy and serendipity, and their
In celebration of Women’s History Month in 2011, the National Building Museum hosted the annual Women of Architecture lecture, “Annabelle Selldorf: Architecture and Context.” National Building Museum Online spoke to Annabelle Selldorf about her background, design process, and role as a female architect in a male-dominated profession. National Building Museum (NBM) Online: You were born and
By Laura Burd Schiavo In many ways Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s was an exhibition about exhibiting. The designers and architects whose work is explored in the Museum were engaged in a decade-long project whose legacies are with us today. That project revolved around the question and its often successful resolution of how,
By Calder Loth The National Building Museum had the rare privilege of exhibiting a collection of original drawings by Andrea Palladio (1508-80), widely regarded as the western world’s most significant architect. The Royal Institute of British Architects, the keeper of these treasures, is sharing a group of 31 of Palladio’s sketches, studies, and presentation drawings,
by G. Martin Moeller, Jr. There is a spot in Rome along the Via dei Baullari, near the bustling Campo de’ Fiori, from which one can admire a portion of the Palazzo Farnese’s elegant façade, and then, pivoting to the right, catch a glimpse of the gracious courtyard within the Palazzo della Cancelleria. For anyone
By Andrew Caruso Peter Bohlin, FAIA, founding principal of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and recipient of the 2010 Gold Medal of The American Institute of Architects, joined the National Building Museum for the Spotlight on Design lecture series. Humble yet decisive, innovative yet respectful of the value of tradition, Bohlin has produced a substantial body of
By Lynden B. Miller, Public Garden Designer Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) was America’s finest landscape garden designer. Her most extensive project, Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, D.C., has been described as ranking with “the greatest gardens in the world.”1 Her career and her work continue to be an inspiration today. She has long been a role model
By Mary Konsoulis “The development of Washington will go on so long as the Republic endures. The problems of the future will be multiplied and will be different from those of the past….The remedy lies not in words but in good design, faithfully carried out….”—Charles Moore, Former CFA chairman Washington is unique among American cities.