A Visit to D.C.'s Museum for the Built Environment

On a recent trip to Washington. D.C., Los Angeles County planner Clement Lau visited the National Building Museum, a museum about the built environment. Saved from demolition in 1969 to house the museum, the building—on the National Register of Historic Places—itself is a highlight:  

The National Building Museum is housed in the former Pension Bureau building, a brick structure completed in 1887 and designed by Montgomery C. Meigs, the U.S. Armyquartermaster general. It is notable for several architectural features, including the spectacular interior columns which I could not help, but marveled at upon entering the museum.  The building also has a frieze, sculpted by Caspar Buberl, stretching around the exterior of the building and depicting Civil War soldiers in scenes somewhat reminiscent of those on Trajan’s Column as well as the Horsemen Frieze of the Parthenon. 

But of course, the measure of a museum is its exhibits rather than their container. In this, the National Building Museum does not disappoint. Its exhibits chronicle the country's changes in construction techniques and materials, and include detailed scaled models of some of the country's most notable buildings. It's also a great outing for the family. It includes:

. . . a special area for kids called the Building Zone . . . kids have the opportunity to: build a tower or brick wall, flip through an architecture picture book in the Book Nook, drive bulldozers and other construction play trucks in the Construction Zone, pretend to be a craftsperson complete with a hard hat, tool belt, and goggles, and explore the museum’s Project Playhouse, a life-size custom built “green” house. 

The museum's large gift shop, with its diverse selection of design-related items in the store has been repeatedly recognized as one of the country's best. For more about Lau's vistit to the museum, visit the main article.