In celebration of Women's History Month, The National Building Museum features a special program, Architects Across Generations. Beverly Willis, artist, architecture and philanthropist, joins architect and CEO of Marshall Moya Design, Paola Moya, for a cross-generational conversation on how architecture has evolved in the past half-century, what lies ahead, and the pressing issues practicing architects and design entrepreneurs face today.
A traveling photographic exhibition about the life and work of influential Modernist landscape architect Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009). Organized on the 100th anniversary of the year of his birth, the exhibition, organized and curated by The Cultural Landscape Foundation in collaboration with the National Building Museum, is accompanied by a comprehensive website and full color, 92-page gallery guide.
How do you build an ocean and field of icebergs within the Museum's Great Hall? Cathy Frankel, vice president for exhibitions and collections, and Christopher Maclay, master carpenter, lead a tour of the ICEBERGS installation to reveal how we took a concept and made it a reality.
Meet the mind behind this summer’s ICEBERGS installation. Landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations believes that a vibrant and dynamic public realm is informed by the interactive ecology between people and nature. Founder and director James Corner presents the firm’s recent work, and recounts how they conceived of an enormous glacial seascape in the Great Hall.
The National Building Museum offers a new, one-of-a-kind destination with ICEBERGS, designed by James Corner Field Operations. Representing a beautiful underwater world of glacial ice spanning the Museum’s enormous Great Hall, the immersive installation features climbable bergs, “ice” chutes, caves and grottoes to explore, and much more.
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), will host a public panel discussion about the life and work of architect Frank Gehry. Mr. Gehry will join Paul Goldberger, architecture critic and author of Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry, in conversation with moderator Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern art at the National Gallery of Art.
In the documentary Jens Jensen The Living Green, filmmaker Carey Lundin explores the innovative ideas of Jens Jensen to make the modern city livable for all. Jensen was a pioneering conservationist, creator of the Prairie Style in landscape architecture, and considered “dean of landscape architects.” Following the screening, Lundin discusses Jensen's activism and relevance today. 1.5 LU (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 PDH (ASLA)
Teachers construct model buildings featuring sustainable components. Photo by Kevin Allen
Investigate the relationship between landscape architecture and visual arts and explore how to use landscape architecture to teach interdisciplinary lessons. Discover the work of landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden & Associates in the exhibition The New American Garden, visit a nearby site designed by the firm, and create a photographic artwork of your own.
This black-and-white photograph, Sunrise over East Lawn taken at the Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana emphasizes the design of the landscape using light, tone, and contrast. Photo by Alan Ward
Alan Ward, FASLA, masterfully uses the photographic process to see and interpret the essence of designed landscapes. In this program, he describes his process for capturing space, texture, bright light, and dappled shade in mostly black-and-white images, challenging us to see landscapes with new eyes. This talk complements the exhibition Luminous Landscapes: Photographs by Alan Ward, which will be open to attendees prior to the program. 1.5 LU (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 PDH (LA CES)
Re-Ball! is an open design competition to turn 650,000, 3-inch, white, translucent plastic balls into a site-specific installation in the Dupont Underground’s 14,000-square-foot east platform. The balls were previously part of the National Building Museum’s blockbuster summer destination The BEACH. Be the first to see the winning design team's concept before Re-Ball! opens to the public in May. For more information, visit go.nbm.org/reball. 1.5 LU (AIA)
Built by Women D.C. (BxW DC) is a crowd-sourced competition organized by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) to recognize and support the diverse women working in design and construction. This weekend, view the winners that are on display in the Great Hall. On Saturday, attend tours of projects selected as outstanding that will be included in the BWAF’s BxW archive. For more details and to register for the tours, visit go.nbm.org/BxWDC.
Should urban economic development continue to “attract and retain” nonlocal business? Absolutely not, argues economist and attorney Michael Shuman in his latest book, The Local Economy Solution (Chelsea Green, 2015). Instead, cities should spread self-financing “pollinator” enterprises that nurture locally owned businesses through local planning, entrepreneurship, partnerships, purchasing, and investment. Shuman signs copies of the book after his talk. This talk is offered as part of Smart Growth programming. 1.0 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.0 CM (AICP) / 1.0 PDH (LA CES)
Tour the new U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters on the west campus of historic St. Elizabeths, featuring an 11-story office building providing nearly 1.2 million square feet of office and support space for 3,860 employees, a separate central utility plant, and two seven-story parking garages. The building, designed by Perkins + Will, Andropogon Associates, and HOK, keeps a low profile on the historic campus while scoring high on design aesthetic, user experience, and client-mandated requirements. The building is LEED(r) Gold certified.
