by Shane Henson — March 25, 2013—BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), a Copenhagen- and New York-based group of architects, designers, builders and thinkers, has been chosen to lead a design team to re-imagine and rethink the historic Smithsonian Institution campus, the world’s largest museum and research complex, which consists of 19 museums, the National Zoological Park and nine research facilities.
Located at the south side of the National Mall in Washington, DC, the 160-year-old cultural campus, which includes 11 of the renowned institution’s museums and the Smithsonian Castle from 1855, is in need of being refreshed and re-connected to its adjacent buildings and the public realm. The Smithsonian expects BIG to draft the first phase of the master plan, creating a gateway that invites visitors to learn, experience and navigate seamlessly through the Smithsonian buildings and gardens.
BIG’s design seeks to reinstate the original castle as the cornerstone building and the symbolic home of the Smithsonian Institution to serve as a welcoming entry point and an information hub for the visitors. The currently hidden Central Garden is to be reconnected to the National Mall by creating a striking grand entrance for the castle and adjacent museums, says the firm.
BIG says the vision is to also include an entrance from the Central Garden that provides access to a subterranean museum network, which connects more than four museums in a maze of underground galleries, tunnels and annexes. Large public voids tunneling from collection to collection, space to space will simplify and reorganize the existing condition below ground, improving the connectivity and access to the underground spaces. As the visitors descend down the lower levels from the corner entry, they will be able to see and enjoy all the levels of the museum at once, explains the group.
According to BIG, it will be partnering with Surface Design, Traceries and Robert Silman Associates, and be further supported by Atelier Ten, GHT Limited, Wiles Mensch, Weidlinger Associates, VJ Associates, Protection Engineering Group and FDS Design Studio to transform the complex. The first phase of the Smithsonian Campus Master Plan is expected to be delivered in the next 12 months.
