National Air and Space Museum (National Air Museum)

1972-1976, Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum

The fourth Smithsonian Secretary, Charles Doolittle Walcott, conceived of a museum dedicated to aeronautics in 1915. His idea would eventually evolve into the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. The development of the museum began with a temporary metal structure erected by the War Department in 1917. It was the first location in the Smithsonian Institution where aircraft and related material were exhibited. On August 12, 1946, the National Air Museum was officially established as part of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1953 the National Air Museum Advisory Board selected a location for the new museum behind the Smithsonian Institution Building between 9th and 12th Streets. In June 1954 the location seemed appeared to be decided when Secretary Leonard Carmichael formally petitioned the National Capital Planning Commission. The New York real estate developer William Zechendorf later proposed a comprehensive redevelopment plan for the southwest quadrant of Washington. The original McKim, Mead and White plan was never constructed. On September 6, 1958, a new location for the museum was specified by public law. It was designated to occupy the block between Independence and Jefferson Avenues and between 4th and 7th Streets. After another decade, Congress passed a law in 1966 that authorized plans for the new building. Helmuth, Obata and Kassabaum was selected as the architectural firm, with Gyo Obata as the Design Partner. The project was renamed the National Air and Space Museum to reflect the presence of both aircraft and spacecraft in the permanent collection. Funding for construction was delayed due to the Vietnam War. By 1971 the escalating costs of construction had made the old design prohibitively expensive. So Gyo Obata of building. The new plan was approved by the Commission of Fine Arts on May 17, 1972, and by the National Capital Planning Commision on September 7, 1972. Congress appropriated funds for the museum's construction and on November 20, 1972, ground was broken for the new Smithosian museum. Gyo Obata was presented with the problem of designing a museum on the historically signficant Mall which could accomodate both enormous crowds and large aeronatical equipment.

His final design presented solutions to all three issues. The basic structural geometry of the National Air and Space Museum reflected the National Gallery of Art by John Russell Pope directly across the Mall. It was further clad in the same pink Tennesse marble as the West Building. The recessed voids between the blocks were constructed of heavy truss structures which would be capable of suspending aircraft. The voids in the south façade were filled with cantilevered, marble-clad blocks which provide additional floor space for the museum. Although the modern design of the National Air and Space Museum differed from the neoclassical design of the National Gallery of Art, it was similarly approached by a central staircase from the Mall and similarly designed with longitudinal and latitudinal symmetry. A sculpture, Ad Astra, by Richard Lippold was placed in front of the north main entrance. Construction of the museum was completed in July 1976. On July 4, 1976 the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution officially opened to the public. In 1988, the Terrace restaurant was constructed on the east side of the museum. It was also designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum as a truss structure which corresponding to the design of the recessed truss portions of the building.

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