National Museum Prepares "Green" Exhibit

Washington, D.C. - With the coming of a new year, the National Building Museum is making preparations to open a major exhibition on “green” architecture, titled Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century. The exhibit, scheduled to open Jan. 17, focuses on green, or sustainable, architecture.

“Sustainable architecture is a potent new movement that could revolutionize the way our buildings and cities are designed and constructed,” said exhibition chair Douglas Durst, president, The Durst Organization. “This movement emerges from an increasing respect for our environment, combined with a continuing demand for new construction to meet the needs of urban and regional growth. And it recognizes – now more than ever – that energy must be used wisely and conserved.”

This sustainable architecture attempts to lessen the negative environmental impact created by building, promotes proper use of natural resources, and protects the health and well-being of occupants.

Combining in-depth profiles of nearly 50 contemporary green projects worldwide with a broad examination of global ecological and economic forces, the exhibition will demonstrate the "transformative powers" of sustainable design. The five-month exhibit will focus on large-scale buildings such as skyscrapers, convention centers, factories, apartment buildings, shopping complexes and other "megastructures."

Big & Green will illustrate the concept of sustainability through a myriad of photographs, models, sketches, structural mock-ups and interactive components. The exhibition will be organized in five core sections – Energy; Light and Air; Greenery, Water and Waste; Construction; and Urbanism.

The Greenery, Water and Waste section highlights the relationship between these natural elements, as architects try to curb water consumption, lessen water waster, and use natural plant materials to manage a building’s impact on its surroundings. As shown by the exhibit, greenery and well-designed landscapes can provide not only beautiful surroundings but also circumstances that protect the ecology of the natural environment.

The author is Assistant Editor - Internet for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.