The Smithsonian Announces 20-Year Redesign

The world’s largest museum is getting a makeover.

Plans to upgrade the museums and gardens on the South Mall campus along Independence Avenue SW from Seventh to 12th streets were announced Wednesday.

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution has 19 museums and galleries along with nine research facilities and the National Zoological Park.

The proposal reveals the three primary goals that the plan will aim to accomplish:

• Improve and expand visitor services and education
• Create clear entrances and connections between the museums and gardens
• Replace old building mechanical systems

The Master Plan will work to accomplish the goals by executing the following changes:

• As the oldest structure of the Smithsonian, the Castle will be revitalized
• The Hirshhorn Museum will become more visible and accessible to the Mall
• The roof above the Ripley Center, Sackler Gallery, and National Museum of African Art will be replaced
• Daylight will light the underground complex with new wells
• Older mechanical system will be replaced
• Give new entrances to the National Museum of African Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
• Improve visibility and access from the Freer Gallery of Art to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• Connections between buildings and gardens will be created

Designed by the Denmark-based Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the upgrades will take 10 to 20 years and the plan will be put into action beginning in 2016.

“The Master Plan provides the first-ever integrative vision for the South Mall,” Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said on the Smithsonian website. “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.”

For more information visit the Smithsonian.

Photo Credit: Smithsonian Facebook