Viewing page 52 of 100

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-45-

[[underlined]] South Quadrangle Project [[/underlined]]

[[underlined]] Design Status [[/underlined]].  Mr. Ripley recalled that at the Board of Regents' last meeting, he announced that the firm of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott, an architectural/engineering firm from Boston, had recently been selected to continue detailed planning, assisted by Mr. Junzo Yoshimura as design consultant.  The selection was based on a strict set of requirements and rigorous open competition, reviewed by a panel of General Services Administration and Smithsonian judges.  The A/E firm, represented principally by architect Jean-Paul Carlhian, has refined the original design concept in response to suggestions from the National Capital Planning Commission and others.  The present concept, represented by a model shown to the Regents, incorporates smaller above-ground pavilions and lightwells, and a plan for access to the Freer Gallery and the Arts and Industries Building from Independence Avenue and to the garden via the Renwick Gates.  A detailed landscape plan will be developed later.  Presented to the Commission of Fine Arts on April 8, this concept was approved in principle.  The Commission will review more detailed plans at a later date.

On May 1 the design concept and model were presented to the National Capital Planning Commission for information and comment.  The present design was generally well received, in large measure due to the refinements made since last August by Mr. Carlhian, working closely with Mr. Yoshimura.  Further refinements of the lightwells, garage entrance, pavilion garden walls, and garden landscaping were strongly recommended. 

At present, the firm of EDAW, Inc., is preparing a final Environmental Impact Statement for public review and comment, and the firm of E. Verner Johnson and Associates is revising their earlier report on program requirements to incorporate the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service