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We’ve spent plenty of time on the national mall usu­ally in a gath­er­ing to protest an injus­tice and lend a voice for a more per­fect union. Imag­ine our sur­prise at this new pro­posal for struc­ture that would bring cre­ative cul­ture to the cen­ter of civic energy.
What an inter­est­ing approach to a design a dual agenda: raise the museum’s national pro­file and to put Wash­ing­ton in closer touch with cre­ative life around it. Within weeks he was pro­mot­ing his vision to leg­is­la­tors, museum direc­tors and for­eign cul­tural attachés.

The direc­tor of the Hir­shorn Museum and Sculp­ture Gar­den, Richard Koshalek pro­poses erect­ing an inflat­able meet­ing hall That would pop out of the inter­nal court­yard of the museum.
This is an excit­ing idea from any design point of view includ­ing archi­tec­ture and place­mak­ing, The other excit­ing aspect is a tem­po­rary struc­ture reduces bud­get yet expands the impact the museum can make.
Con­grat­u­la­tions to Mr. Koshalek and the Museum for such bold think­ing.
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Designed by the New York firm Diller Scofidio & Ren­fro, the translu­cent fab­ric struc­ture, which would be installed twice a year, for May and Octo­ber, and be packed away in stor­age the rest of the time, would trans­form one of the most somber build­ings on the mall into a lumi­nous pop landmark.

from the NY Times
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