News: a Utah congressman has launched an attempt to scrap architect Frank Gehry's proposed Washington D.C. memorial honouring President Dwight D. Eisenhower, citing the project's cost and controversial design.

Last week Rob Bishop introduced legislation seeking to reject the current design by Gehry – whose best-known buildings include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles – and invite new proposals for the memorial while eliminating $100 million of future funding.

The Canadian-born architect's planned memorial, which is projected to cost $142 million, includes statues of the president surrounded by large woven steel "tapestries" depicting images of his childhood home in Kansas – but members of the Eisenhower family have criticised the design as too extravagant.

The congressman's efforts to scrap the design drew strong opposition from the American Institute of Architects, which said last week that lawmakers should not attempt to censor architectural work.

"Representative Bishop’s legislation allows Congress to exercise governmental authority in a wholly arbitrary manner that negates the stated selection process," said Robert Ivy, the institute's chief. "It is nothing more than an effort to intimidate the innovative thinking for which our profession is recognized at home and around the globe."

Before submitting the planning application in 2011, Gehry had insisted he would take onboard concerns voiced by the public and Eisenhower's grandchildren about the concept and scale of the project.

Gehry recently completed a Maggie's Centre in Hong Kong, the first of the cancer charity's units outside of the UK. Earlier in the year he revealed proposals for a rippled 22-storey tower in his hometown of Santa Monica, California, and he's also working on the new headquarters for internet giant Facebook.

See all architecture by Gehry or see more architecture in Washington D.C.

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The William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library is located in a residential neighbourhood in the south of city and sits on a gently sloping site.

The central volume of the building contains reading areas for adults, children and teenagers, while group study areas and conference rooms are located in the three wings that adjoin. Faceted concrete legs raise these wings above the ground, creating a sheltered amphitheatre and bicycle parking area by the entrance.

Read about the first of the two libraries here, or click here to see Adjaye's recent designs for a bitumen-coated pavilion at the Tate Liverpool gallery.

See all our stories about David Adjaye »
See more libraries on Dezeen »

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here's some more text from Adjaye Associates:

Adjaye Associates’ Community Libraries in Washington DC open to the public

Adjaye Associates’ new neighbourhood libraries for the District of Columbia, the William O. Lockridge/ Bellevue Library and Francis Gregory Library, have opened to the public. The brief called for the new buildings to be “flexible, accessible, welcoming and inviting” and the libraries challenge the traditional closed typology, introducing a social element with a strong urban and cultural programme.

The William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library

“Communities need empowering buildings – and this neighbourhood library is all about the creation of a strong beacon for its community. The primary act of public architecture is to create spaces that are socially edifying and socially liberating – using design excellence as a social force that makes good. This is at the heart of my work, so it is very exciting to see this building welcome its community through its doors.” - David Adjaye

The William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library is characterized by its celebration of views across the neighbourhood, and the insertion into the dramatically sloping site topography. The challenge was also to create a civic building within a residential context. Rather than a single monolithic form, the library is a cluster of geometric volumes, both elevated and grounded physically to the site.

Using the grounded main volume to host the library central stacks and primary reading, the elevated volumes create a welcoming portico at the entrance that can be used for events and informal gatherings. The volumes mediate the scale of the building by using small, medium and large forms, derived from the library’s program but also capturing the surrounding urban fabric and the site topography, while resonating with neighboring residences of a similar composition. Wrapped in a concrete and glazed skin replete with timber fins, the envelope not only resolves structural and shading requirements, but also articulates the vertical presence of the building juxtaposed to the sloping landscape.

By fragmenting the building into smaller volumes, the arrangement takes advantage of the natural topography by setting the library to maximize the eastern exposure for filtered natural lighting, which is the primary light source. On plan, the volumes follow the geometry of the site to form a series of identical, shifting rectangles.

The library service areas are layered, with adults, teenage and children’s services contained within the separate volumes. The first floor contains the circulation desk, adult browsing, sights and sound, a meeting room and library staff support spaces. The second floor has additional adult browsing and children services. The third floor contains further adult, meeting rooms and teen services. The concrete staircase, taking visitors up to the higher levels, matches the incline of the street to suggest a sense of bringing the street – and the neighbourhood – inside.

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by Adjaye Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Behind the glass outer skin, the chunky timber boxes give depth to the walls and create a row of window seats at the base. A floating roof overhangs the walls and shelters a plaid-patterned ceiling of glazing above a double height atrium.

Located within the Fort Davis Park in the east of the city, the Francis Gregory Library contains reading areas for adults, children and teenagers, as well as a public meeting room and a series of conference rooms.

This week David Adjaye also revealed designs for a bitumen-coated pavilion at the Tate Liverpool gallery.

See all our stories about David Adjaye »
See more libraries on Dezeen »

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here's some more text from Adjaye Associates:

Adjaye Associates’ Community Libraries in Washington DC open to the public

Adjaye Associates’ new neighbourhood libraries for the District of Columbia, the William O. Lockridge/ Bellevue Library and Francis Gregory Library, have opened to the public. The brief called for the new buildings to be “flexible, accessible, welcoming and inviting” and the libraries challenge the traditional closed typology, introducing a social element with a strong urban and cultural programme.

The Francis Gregory Library

“Our mission, with the Francis Gregory Library, has been to offer a new way to experience books, reading and story-telling. Rather than a traditional closed building, this library is porous and open, with the canopy providing a welcoming entrance that invites people inside. Conceived as an extension to the park, it is not only a place to gather, but also a place of contemplation and learning.”- David Adjaye

The sketch-like quality of the Francis Gregory Library suggests a woodland folly – a building that is a pavilion within Fort Davis Park. Views of the park are framed from within, while the exterior of the building both reflects and complements the dense composition of trees and the striking natural environment. Viewed from the street, the building appears to flicker with the changing light, providing a lens through which to see into the park. The two-storey library provides space for three major library services: adults, teenagers and children. There is also a public meeting room and conference rooms.

Achieving LEED Silver, the design strategy is highly sustainable, with the building taking advantage of the natural vegetation, maximizing the winter sun exposure and controlling the summer sun with a large canopy over the pavilion. The canopy welcomes the public inside, providing an effective transitional space from the street.

The structural system is articulated in the reflective geometric façade that supports the curtain wall and roof, while the network of quadrilateral openings continue inside and frame the views of the park. A number of windows are deep set to enable seating within the aperture, itself, encouraging visitors toward the perimeter of the building to reflect and enjoy the views. The material palette inside the building is largely timber – again, resonating with the woodland setting.

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by Adjaye Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Construction will begin this week on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC designed by architect David Adjaye.

Adjaye Associates teamed up with American architects The Freelon Group and Davis Brody Bond to win the design competition for the museum back in 2009, under the collaborative name Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup (FAB).

Sited beside the National Museum of American History and the Washington Monument, the museum will accommodate more than half of its volume below ground.

Bronze plates will cover the tiered exterior of the building, perforated in patterns that reference the history of African American craftsmanship.

The museum is scheduled to open in 2015, and you can see the original competition-winning proposals for it in our earlier story.

You can also see more stories about David Adjaye here.

Here's a longer description of the project from Adjaye Associates:

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
Washington DC, USA, April 2009 - September 2015

Winning the competition to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture has consolidated the practice’s US portfolio with arguably the nation’s most prestigious new building. Located on Constitution Avenue, adjacent to the National Museum of American History and the Washington Monument, the museum will house exhibit galleries, administrative spaces, theatre space and collections storage space for the NMAAHC. As lead designer for the Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup (FAB) team, David Adjaye’s approach has been to establish both a meaningful relationship to this unique site as well as a strong conceptual resonance with America’s deep and longstanding African heritage. The design rests on three cornerstones: the “corona” shape and form of the building; the extension of the building out into the landscape – the porch; and the bronze filigree envelope.

Situated on the Washington Monument grounds the museum maintains a subtle profile in the landscape – more than half is below ground – with five storeys above. The corona is based on elements of the Washington Monument, closely matching the 17-degree angle of the capstone and the panel size and pattern has been developed using the Monument stones as a reference. The entire building is wrapped in an ornamental bronze lattice that is a historical reference to African American craftsmanship. The density of the pattern can be modulated to control the amount of sun¬light and transparency into the interior. The south entry is composed of the Porch and a central water feature. An extension of the building out into the landscape, the porch creates an outdoor room that bridges the gap between the interior and exterior.

At 50m (49’-2”) deep, the setback is similar to other buildings on the north side of the Mall. The underside of the porch roof is tilted upward allowing reflection of the moving water below. This covered area creates a microclimate where breezes combine with the cooling waters to generate a place of refuge from the hot summer sun. There is also an outdoor patio on the porch rooftop that is accessed from a mezzanine level within the building.

Inside the building, visitors will be guided on a historical and emotional journey, characterised by vast, column free spaces, a dramatic infusion of natural light and a diverse material palette comprising pre-cast concrete, timber and a glazed skin that sits within the bronze lattice. Below ground, the ambience is contemplative and monumental, achieved by the triple height history gallery and symbolised by the memorial space – the “oculus” – that brings light diffused by a cascade of water into the contemplative space from the Monument grounds. Moving upwards, the views become pivotal, as one circulates along the corona with unrivalled panoramas of the Mall, Federal Triangle buildings and Monument Grounds.

Architect: Freelon Adjaye Bond / SmithGroup
Client: Smithsonian
Structural Engineer: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Robert Silman Associates
Mechanical Engineer: WSP Flack + Kurtz
Total Area: 313,000 sqf
Contract Value: $500m

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Architecture practices competing on the shortlist include New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Snøhetta of Norway.

The competition aims to renovate three key sites in America's most visited national park, which is home to some of the capital's most famous landmarks including The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, The Jefferson Memorial and other monuments honouring former presidents and America's war heroes.

Superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, Bob Vogel says: "The National Mall Design Competition will be a new chapter, providing sustainable design that respects historic landscape and structures."

A jury of experts in landscape design, urban park design, historic preservation and the arts will judge the competition, with the winner to be announced in May 2012.

You can see the full list of shortlisted teams on the National Mall Design Competition website.

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