Some more photos from my trip to the states at the end of 2004...

National Museum of the American Indian (http://www.nmai.si.edu/)
Opened September 2004

Designer: Douglas Cardinal
design architects : GBQC ArchitectsJohnpaul Jones (Cherokee/Choctaw)
project architects : Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects Ltd. ,SmithGroup of Washington, D.C., in association with Lou Weller (Caddo) and the Native American Design Collaborative, Polshek Partnership Architects of New York City.
design consultants: Ramona Sakiestewa and Donna House.

located at southwest corner of theNational Mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Mall)
Entrance is free, timed tickets might be required -weren't needed when I was there +- 3 months after opening.

Looking at that list of designers you can see what a mix-up of different ideas and influences this building is. I must say that it is refreshing to see something this unusual in such a conservative place as the National Mall. On the opposite side of the mall is I.M. Pei's Museum (which didn't do much for me)

This photograph is of the corner facing towards the Capitol:

All photographs taken with Canon A80

Corbelled/cantilevered corner.

The thing I like most about this building's exterior is the blending of different sized stone veneer tiles. We can argue the merits of such materials and call them dishonest, but they are used fairly sensitively here-particularly the rustication towards the bottom of the building (look at how the stones start walking out of that wall)

The obligatory vertical interior panoramic- This interior space is rather dramatic but unlike the New York Guggenheim (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24576) , you have only limited opportunities to interact with it, and don't see it at all from the main collection galleries.

Finally the Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) KMZ and a description from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_the_American_Indian) :

The National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall opened in September 2004. After 15 years in the making, it is the first national museum in the country dedicated exclusively to Native Americans. The five-story, 250,000-square-foot, curvilinear building is clad in a golden-colored Kasota limestone that evokes natural rock formations shaped by wind and water for thousands of years. The museum is set in a 4.25-acre site and is surrounded by an eastern lowland landscape and a scenic water feature. The museum’s east-facing entrance, prism window and the 120-foot-high Potomac space devoted to contemporary Native performances are a direct result of extensive consultations with Native peoples. Similar to the Heye Center in Lower Manhattan, National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall offers a range of exhibitions, film and video screenings, school group programs, public programs and living culture presentations throughout the year.

The museum’s architect and project designer is Douglas Cardinal (Blackfoot) of Ottawa, Canada; the museum’s design architects are GBQC Architects of Philadelphia and architect Johnpaul Jones (Cherokee/Choctaw). The Washington location of the NMAI is housed in a building designed by Douglas J. Cardinal. Disagreements during the construction led to his being removed from the project, but the building retains his original design intent, and his continued input was used to achieve completion. The museum’s project architects are Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects Ltd. of Seattle and SmithGroup of Washington, D.C., in association with Lou Weller (Caddo) and the Native American Design Collaborative, and Polshek Partnership Architects of New York City; Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi) and Donna House (Navajo/Oneida) also served as design consultants. Landscape architects are Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects Ltd.of Seattle and EDAW Inc., landscape architects in Alexandria, Va. In general, American Indians have filled the leadership roles in the design and operation of the museum and have aimed at creating a different atmosphere and experience from museums of European and Euro-American culture. Donna House, the Navajo and Oneida botanist who supervised the landscaping, has said, "The landscape flows into the building, and the environment is who we are. We are the trees, we are the rocks, we are the water. And that had to be part of the museum."

http://www.architecturalrecord.com/news/daily/archives/040921dc.asp

http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/NEWS/9909/28/native.american.museum.02/

The Smithsonian fired Douglas Cardinal as the project's architect in 1998 in a dispute over deadlines and money.

The Canadian architect who drafted the museum's original design refused an invitation to the groundbreaking, calling the modified design now being used "an artistic forgery."

Stitched view of the entrance and street side opposite the Mall.

Entrance overhang detail.

Overhang wider view.

Facade to the Mall.

View from the Capitol building side.

Night view of east side entrance.

Entrance at night.

Atrium.

inside the entrance area. Low light photos without flash, not good quality.

Dome interior ceiling.

Stairs.

Lighted railing detail.

Corridor & ceiling detail.

End of corridor.

Integration of architecture & exhibition.

Windows from inside.

Arrival from the west side. Viewed from the Mall.

North and west facades.

Natural rocks and cascades along the north facade.

Around the corner to the main entrance.