Thursday, October 31, 2002
Newseum design unveiled
Museum will be expanded, 'reinvented' next to National Mall
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ARLINGTON, Va. — The Freedom Forum yesterday revealed its design for a new, much larger Newseum next to the Washington, D.C., Mall and its monuments and museums. The unveiling marks a major milestone in the foundation’s plans to relocate the news museum and Freedom Forum headquarters to Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., in Washington.
The new interactive museum of news, which will have three times as much exhibition space as the original facility in Arlington, is being designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, the firm responsible for the critically acclaimed Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
“We are building a dramatically new and different Newseum,” said Charles L. Overby, chairman and CEO of the Freedom Forum and the Newseum. “The architecture alone will draw people to this site, but the state-of-the-art content inside will be the real attraction for visitors of all ages.”
The Newseum is scheduled to open in late 2006, according to Overby.
The approximately 531,000-square-foot development, estimated to cost approximately $400 million, contains the Newseum and its support facilities, more than 30,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 100 condominiums. The façade of the Newseum features a “window on the world,” 57 by 78 feet, which looks out on Pennsylvania Avenue and the Mall while letting the public see inside to the visitors and displays.
The façade of the building, which stands between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, also features the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, etched into a stone panel facing Pennsylvania Avenue.
“This is one of the most important buildings we have ever had the opportunity to design,” said James Stewart Polshek, who is leading the design team. “We are seeking to create a building that is inviting, open and transparent, one that reflects the role a free press should play in a democracy. And we are trying to relate to and be respectful of our neighbors — John Russell Pope’s West Building of the National Gallery of Art, I.M. Pei’s East Building addition, and the Canadian Embassy, designed by Arthur Erickson.
“We hope this fresh, new building will serve as a bridge between the Mall and the fast-growing Penn Quarter corridor, with its theaters, restaurants and residences.”
The six-level, approximately 215,000-square-foot Newseum portion of the building is composed of three rectangular “bars” — suggesting the sections of a three-dimensional newspaper. These bars are parallel to Pennsylvania Avenue and vary in height as the building steps back from the avenue.
The original exhibit designer for the Newseum, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, is developing exhibits for the new Newseum.
“Developing the new Newseum’s stories and exhibitions hand-in-hand with the design of an original building gives us an unparalleled opportunity to convey the central metaphors and messages of the importance of the First Amendment and the role of journalism in societies throughout the world,” Appelbaum said. “The building’s transparent design and place in the heart of the news capital of the world constantly invite the visitor to relate the exhibition experience inside to the historic locale and news-making world outside.”
Ralph Appelbaum Associates is the largest interpretive museum-design firm in the world, and it has collaborated with Polshek Partnership Architects on several projects, most recently the Rose Center in New York City. Appelbaum also designed the permanent exhibition of the highly acclaimed United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is currently working on the United States Capitol Visitor Center.
Visitors to the Newseum will be greeted by an expanded presentation of the Newseum’s popular “Today’s Front Pages” display, which features newspaper front pages from all 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as countries around the world. Inside, visitors will enter the 90-foot-high atrium and then begin exploring the museum’s six levels of displays and experiences, including a 17,000-square-foot News History Gallery (more than double the size of the original history gallery); nine themed or changing exhibition galleries; a series of 60-seat orientation theaters; an expanded Interactive Newsroom; a state-of-the-art broadcast studio and control room with a smaller studio overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue; and familiar icons from the original Newseum, including Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalism, a memorial dedicated to the more than 1,400 journalists who died while reporting the news, and segments of the Berlin Wall.
“We are really reinventing the Newseum so we can tell the story behind the news in an even more exciting and educational way,” said Peter S. Prichard, president of the Newseum and Freedom Forum. “We will offer more news-related artifacts, and deeper and richer content that will include more international exhibits, a new First Amendment gallery, a diversity gallery and a special emphasis on Washington’s journalism history.”
“We will take advantage of many new technical innovations to move the Newseum to the next level of interactivity so that visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the news process and participate as fully as possible,” said Newseum Executive Director and Senior Vice President Joe Urschel. “The added space also will allow us to better explore some of the remarkable elements of our collection such as the Berlin Wall — the largest section outside of Berlin — which contains one of only two remaining guard towers.”
An oval, 500-seat “Forum” theater rivals the theater/auditorium spaces of the largest Smithsonian museums and will allow the Newseum to increase dramatically the accessibility of its film and documentary offerings, public programs and special events.
The new Newseum also will provide several new or enhanced visitor services including a food court and café, an expanded Newseum Store and an entrance on C Street dedicated for group-tour visitors.
The building also features approximately 145,500 gross square feet of housing facing Sixth and C streets; 75,000 square feet of office space for the staff of the Newseum and its parent organization, the Freedom Forum; and a 9,000-square-foot conference center located directly above the Newseum Atrium. A conference center terrace on the sixth level and terraces accessible to Newseum visitors located on the second and fifth levels feature dramatic views of the U.S. Capitol.
In June 2001, the Freedom Forum selected the Washington, D.C.-based firm CarrAmerica Urban Development, LLC, to serve as development manager for the Pennsylvania Avenue project. CarrAmerica and its affiliates also have developed numerous and significant Pennsylvania Avenue projects over the years, including 1900 Pennsylvania Ave. (now in development for the International Monetary Fund), the International Finance Corporation headquarters, Liberty Place, the MCI Communications headquarters, Metropolitan Square, the Willard Hotel and office complex, 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., 1717 Pennsylvania Ave., 1730 Pennsylvania Ave. and 1747 Pennsylvania Ave.
In the coming weeks, CarrAmerica and the Freedom Forum will be submitting the building design to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts as well as the appropriate local government officials for public review hearings.
“The Newseum is an important and delightful addition to downtown D.C.,” said Mayor Anthony A. Williams, “and its design is a perfect fit for 'America's Main Street' — Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The Newseum opened to the public on April 18, 1997. During nearly five years of operation, the Newseum took more than 2.25 million visitors behind the scenes of news through exhibitions such as the largest and most comprehensive display of Pulitzer Prize-winning photography ever assembled and “breaking news” exhibitions such as “America Under Attack: September 11, 2001,” which opened the day after the terrorist attacks; and programs featuring journalists and newsmakers from around the world, including Walter Cronkite, Helen Thomas, Bernard Shaw, Betty Friedan, David Gergen, Pat Buchanan and Charlayne Hunter-Gault; and interactive activities and events.
During the transition period, the Newseum will continue to offer programs and exhibitions in partnership with other local organizations including the D.C. Public Library, the Smithsonian Institution, the International Spy Museum and the National Press Club. An outdoor version of the Newseum’s popular “Today’s Front Pages” exhibit is now on display at the future museum site (Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W.). For up-to-date information on schedules and locations, visit the Newseum’s Web site.
Media contact:
Mike Fetters, 703/284-2895
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