A Guide to Smithsonian Architecture

This second edition of A Guide to Smithsonian Architecture is now in color and fully updated. The buildings of the Smithsonian Institution not only contain impressive collections; they are themselves icons of great cultural significance, many of them part of the historic National Mall. A Guide to Smithsonian Architecture is a gorgeous and intimate look at the striking buildings across the Smithsonian, providing engaging historical background and focusing on small details you might otherwise miss. The Smithsonian's unique buildings illustrate the changing styles and sensibilities of America as an evolving nation. Representing the work of major architects, each building evokes a specific time in history: the mid-19th-century turreted Castle, the sky-reflecting mid-century modern National Air and Space Museum, the golden, undulating, 21st-century National Museum of the American Indian, and the shimmering, triple-tiered National Museum of African and American History and Culture, whose innovative design incorporated architectural sustainability that earned it the coveted LEED Gold rating. This guide is a perfect read for architecture buffs, history lovers, and Smithsonian devotees.