Ahem, so it has been a little while before I blogged, but unfortunately life has a way of getting in the way. So I saw that there was a new exhibition at the National Building Museum about Anacostia, so I was interested in seeing it. I had only been to the Building Museum once for the worst job fair ever, so I had not been eager to go there otherwise. Anyway, Nicole and I went there today after brunch. It was $8 to get in to see the exhibitions, but they also had an area where you could play mini golf. I'm not a huge fan of mini golf, so I declined.
Our first stop was to an exhibition called "Washington: Symbol and City". I really liked it alot! It had a history of the buildings in the city, and the different architects. It talked about how rowhouses were for the poor people, and only the wealthy could have free-standing homes. Obviously different now! It was interesting to read about some of the history of places like Dunbar High School (which was not a vocational high school at first because the administrators thought that was demeaning to African American children), as well as the Wardman houses which were built all over the city. I also got to read about how Union Station evolved as part of the Baltimore Ohio railway, and the development of Rock Creek Park. There were a ton of different facts about DC, and I learned alot. But one of the things I was telling Nicole that I liked so much was that there were so many names that I could now tie to places (Eg, Banneker Pool, James Hobans).
The next exhibit we went to was called "Cityscapes Revealed: Highlites from the Collection". It was all about the different architectural styles and the materials used. It was somewhat interesting but the architecture was sort of over my head. Next we went to was an exhibit about Kevin Roche. He is a famous architect who designed buildings for many different people/companies. His focus was on architectural simplicity and how to make buildings work with the areas surrounding them. He had designed buildings for the government, including a Smithsonian building that was to be planned for farming and fishing- it was later shut down by the Nixon Administration, John Deere buildings, and the Herbert Hoover Building. Again, sort of over my head.
We went to the Anacostia exhibit after that, and I really liked it. Apparently Anacostia was originally a very popular place for the Native Americans because of the two rivers intersecting. They had a thriving area, but when the highway came in it isolated Anacostia from the rest of the city. Obviously some of the area has become somewhat blighted, but the exhibit was a mixed media presentation by teenagers who lived there. It focused on diversity and how things had changed. There were poems, photos, and ipods with interviews about Anacostia. In fact, one of the photos was of someone I knew from tutoring! She works in Anacostia as well. They showed a video of some of the teenagers putting the exhibit together, which was also neat. Overall it was a very interesting exhibit, and I liked it alot.
The last exhibit we went to was called "House and Home" and it showed the various types of homes and styles. It had a wall of all of these random pictures from all around the United States, some old and some new. All of them were very unique. They also had this video playing about these different kinds of homes which were really neat. There was this tiny home that was for someone looking to have a smaller carbon footprint. Every square foot was utilized, but they said that people using them would often have to rely on outside resources (as in, no plumbing). Still, it was a neat idea as a guest house or something. They also had a video about the dorms at this art school in Baltimore, which gave the students room to create art, a building that was supposed to be for disabled and homeless people to live but had communal areas they could share such as laundry and kitchens. It showed people living in these homes, and it was really neat and well done.
This exhibit also had some interesting facts about different kinds of housing, including public housing; specifically, Cabrini Green in Chicago. It was a famous housing project that was torn down, in favor of a mixed-income project called Park Place, I think. But it was cool how there were different prices for each apartment and it was not clear who was living where. There were still some things that needed to be worked out, but it was a really interesting idea. They also had a section on communal living where people had shared areas such as kitchens and parks, but that they had their own homes. That was also interesting, if not a little cult-like =). There was also something about a Musician's Village in New Orleans which was developed by Harry Connick Jr. and someone else, where the people built their own homes along with Habitat for Humanity. They also had something about revitalizing LeDroit Park through gentrification.
Overall, this has been one of my favorite museums, surprisingly. I was not expecting that at all given my bad job-fair experience, but I feel like I learned alot about DC and it's architectural and sociological history. It was well worth the admission cost, and I would love to go again, especially if I had friends/family who wanted to visit. It wasn't crowded at all, and I think its location away from the other Smithsonian buildings as well as its admission cost keep some people away. However, I would definitely recommend it!
PS- Sorry for the lack of pictures! My computer is very slowly dying and I need to get another one, and we were also not allowed to take pictures in the exhibits.
