Smithsonian Names Six Architectural Firms for Nat?EUR??,,????'?????<

Firms Were Required to Have Multidisciplinary Staffs, Including Landscape Architects

The National Museum of African American History and Culture isn?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Smithsonian announced the selection of six firms to participate in a two-month design competition to determine which firm is asked to submit a formal proposal for the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The museum is scheduled for completion by 2015.

Federal legislation ?EUR??,,????'?????<https://nmaahc.si.edu and held its first exhibit in New York.

Twenty-two firms responded to the RFQ issued last summer and an evaluation panel of Smithsonian experts reviewed the submissions to be certain they met the criteria. The qualifications of the RFQ included designing the building within three-years, establishing an office within 30 miles of the museum site and demonstrating an appreciation of African American history and culture. The firms will be expected to design an energy-efficient structure that will be the Smithsonian?EUR??,,????'?????<

All the firms have won national and international awards; three are winners of the American Institute of Architect?EUR??,,????'?????<

The design competition teams (in alphabetical order):

Devrouax & Purnell Architects/Planners, P.C, and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, LLP

Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc. in association with Sultan Campbell Britt & Associates

All six teams sent representatives to the Smithsonian Jan. 30, 2009 to participate in an all-day design competition orientation session. Two months later, the firms will submit design concepts?EUR??,,????'?????<

Don Stastny, principal of StastnyBrun Architects Inc., Portland, Ore., will be design competition advisers to the Smithsonian, facilitate the jury meetings and help manage the design competition.

The projected cost for designing, constructing and installing exhibitions in the new museum is about $500 million, half of which will be tax payers money budgeted by Congress. The Smithsonian will raise the remainder. Construction of the building, which will be about the same size as the National Museum of the American Indian, is expected to begin in 2012 and open to the public in 2015.