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Smithsonian Institution Located at the Smithsonian Institution's collection
storage campus, this facility represents the first phase of a Master Plan
that proposes collections facilities for all Smithsonian museums. The
building, which includes state-of-the-art environmental, storage and communication
technologies, houses a library, storage for more than one million Native
American artifacts from the Gustav Heye collection, curatorial and ritual
practice spaces, workshops and laboratories. The design unifies diverse
and formally distinguished program elements and makes symbolic and physical
connections with the natural and man-made landscape. The building's circular
lobby, oriented to the cardinal directions, serves as the spiritual and
functional center of the building; both the structural and circulation
systems originate here. The collection is housed on three levels below
the distinctive radial steel roof structure, whose form derives from organic
structural forms. The building's rectilinear base provides a hard edge
to both the Smithsonian campus and the Suitland community and houses support
spaces. The primary approach to the building is from the east through
a stepped entry court, which leads to the central space. A ramp to the
main level along the western edge provides an additional entrance from
the campus. Awards
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