Family
Building Zone
long-term
Monday through Saturday: 10 am–4 pm;
Sunday: 11 am–4 pm
Ages 2–6 with adult supervision.
The Building Zone introduces children to the building arts through play in an interactive gallery of hands-on activities for the Museum’s youngest visitors.
Sunday, March 3, 10:30 am–Noon
LEGO® Build
Per child: $15 Member | $20 Non-member. Free for adults.
Join the Museum and staff from Play-Well Teknologies for an exciting LEGO® Build as you discover how to make strong, tall towers. Design buildings that you think should be added to our nation’s capital. Recommended for ages 6 and up.
Tuesday, March 5, 10:30 am–Noon
Book of the Month: The Little House
Readings at 10:30 and 11:30 am.
Free with admission to the Building Zone. Recommended for ages 3–5.
Enjoy a reading of Virginia Lee Burton’s story of a little cottage with a big city built around it.
Saturday, March 16, 10 am–1 pm, 1:30–4:30 pm
Cub Scout Day
$10 per scout | Free for adults.
Join the National Building Museum for this day of activities designed especially for Cub Scouts. Have fun while learning to build catapults and bridges, exploring the Museum’s historic building, and drawing like architects. For a full description of activities visit go.nbm.org/scouts.
Saturday, March 23, 10 am–4 pm
Sunday, March 24, 11 am–4 pm
National Cherry Blossom Festival® Family Days
Free. Drop-in program. All ages.
Celebrate the opening of Washington’s cherry blossom season at this eighth annual family festival for kids of all ages, featuring hands-on activities, interactive art demonstrations, and performances that celebrate spring and explore Japanese arts and design. To learn more, visit go.nbm.org/cherryblossom.
Talks
(the numbers and letters at the end of each entry indicate that attendees could earn professional continuing education credits)
Monday, March 4, 10:30 am–Noon
FHA and the Future of Affordable Housing
Free. Registration required.
What is the Federal Housing Administration’s role in charting the next era of affordable housing in the U.S.? Panelists include: Carol Galante, FHA; Sarah Wartell, the Urban Institute; Susan Wachter, Penn Institute for Urban Research (moderator); and others.
1.5 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 LA CES (ASLA)
This program is presented in collaboration with Next American City.
Wednesday, March 6, 6:30–8 pm
Leers Weinzapfel Associates: Connecting Forward
$12 Museum & NMWA Member | $12 Student | $20 Non-member.
Principals and founders Andrea Leers, FAIA, and Jane Weinzapfel, FAIA, of Boston-based Leers Weinzapfel Associates, explore physical and cultural connections at both the urban and building scales. Robert Ivy, CEO, American Institute of Architects, provides opening remarks. A signing of the firm’s book, Made to Measure: The Work of Leers Weinzapfel Associates, follows the talk.
1.5 LU HSW (AIA)
Thursday, March 14, 6:30–8 pm
Cultural Investments: Economic Impact of the Arts
$12 Member | $12 Student | $20 Non-member.
How do cultural institutions impact their regions’ economies? How do arts organizations plan for sustainable growth? Panelists include: Karen L. Christiansen of the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri; Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts; and Joanna Woronkowicz of the University of Chicago. Moderated by Inga Saffron, architecture critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
1.5 LU HSW (AIA)
Sunday, March 17, 1–3 pm
Portraits in Design: Daniel H. Burnham
$12 Member | $12 Student | $20 Non-member.
Architect Daniel H. Burnham (1846-1912) is arguably the father of city planning in the U.S. The mastermind behind the design of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he figured prominently in the bestselling historical novel, The Devil in the White City. Judith McBrien, director of the film Make No Little Plans, examines Burnham’s work, focusing on his large-scale plans for Chicago and Washington, D.C.
1.5 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 LA CES (ASLA)
Sunday, March 17 & Thursday, March 21
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
$10 Member | $10 Student | $12 Non-member per film.
Sunday, March 17, 11:30 am–12:45 pm
Mother Nature’s Child
This documentary explores nature’s powerful role in children’s health and development through the experience of toddlers, children in middle childhood, and adolescents. Judy Lem, manager of special projects at KaBOOM! introduces the film.
Thursday, March 21, 6:30–7:30 pm
Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line
Interdisciplinary design firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro discuss their projects in New York City—the High Line and revitalization and expansion of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
1.0 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.0 LA CES (ASLA)
Thursday, March 21, 12:30–1:30 pm
Rethinking Urban Rivers in an Age of Climate Change
Free. Registration required.
John R. Wennersten, environmental policy writer, Smithsonian consultant on urban waterways, and author of Global Thirst: Water and Society in the 21st Century, discusses how rivers fit into local and global public policy. A book signing follows the talk.
1.0 LU HSW (AIA) / 1.0 CM (AICP) / 1.0 LA CES (ASLA)
Throughout March
Reel Estate: The American Home on Film
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
$8.50 AFI and Museum members | $11.50 General Admission $9 Seniors (65+), Students (with valid ID) and Military $6 Children (12 and under)
The National Building Museum is proud to partner with the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center to present a film series associated with the exhibition House & Home. Reel Estate: The American Home on Film examines how ideas about “house” and “home” are revealed on screen through films spanning the 1930s to the 1990s.
Tickets may be purchased at the box office or online at www.afi.com/silver. The AFI Silver Theatre is located at 8633 Colesville Road in Silver Spring, MD. Silver Spring station, Red Line Metro.
March films:
Saturday, March 2, 3:30 pm*
Gone with the Wind
(Victor Fleming, 1939, 238 min.)
Saturday, March 9, 3:30 pm
The More the Merrier
(George Stevens, 1943, 104 min.)
Saturday, March 16, 3 pm
No Down Payment
(Martin Ritt, 1957, 105 minutes)
Saturday, March 23, 3:30 pm
A Summer Place
(Delmer Daves, 1959, 130 minutes)
Saturday, March 30, 3:15 pm*
Strangers When We Meet
(Richard Quine, 1960, 117 minutes)
*Additional show times. See afi.com/silver for details.
Museum member discount available at box office only with valid membership card.
Exhibitions
Green Schools
Opening March 3
The first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to the greening of American schools explores green and sustainable practices in school buildings, from architecture, lighting, and water systems to school gardens, lunch, and recycling. A full-size, walk-through modular classroom called Sprout Space is featured on the Museum’s lawn. Visitors can head back to school, green-style.
Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces
Opening March 16
Palaces for the People showcases the accomplishments of the Rafael Guastavino family, Spanish immigrants whose tile vaulting techniques created the awe-inspiring spaces that define many of the nation’s most iconic structures, from Grand Central Terminal to the Nebraska State Capitol.
PLAY WORK BUILD
long-term
Pile them up…and push them over. Create the tallest towers, the most ridiculous shapes, the truly impossible structures. Children and adults alike are encouraged to put their skills to the test and let their imaginations run wild with blocks—small, big, and virtual—in this new exhibition that also features a selection of architectural and construction toys from the Museum’s collection.
House & Home
long-term
Exhibition Tours: Mondays and Fridays at 2:30 pm, Wednesdays at 10:30 am, and Saturdays at 10:45 am. (based on docent availability)
House & Home features a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films that takes visitors on a tour of houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present, exploring American domestic life and residential architecture.
Investigating Where We Live
through May 26, 2013
Investigating Where We Live presents teens’ interpretations of D.C. neighborhoods through photography, writing, and original artwork. This year’s participants explored Anacostia.
For more information about this museum, see our National Building Museum page.
