The National Building Museum in Washington, DC will continue its exhibitions on green topics with the opening of “Green Community” on October 23, 2008. The installation will run in the second floor galleries through October 25 of next year.
As interest grows in the movement toward environmental sustainability, “Green Community” is a look at what it means to be green. Building upon the success of the Museum’s two previous “green” exhibitions—“Big & Green” and “The Green House”—which focused on building types, “Green Community” examines the interrelated decisions and designs that make communities greener.
The exhibit looks at how we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings, profiling an array of communities—large and small—where citizens, leaders, and planning and design professionals are working together towards a more sustainable future.
The exhibit strives to present a positive perspective on places that are already embracing sustainable planning. The exhibition includes a range of visionary designs, from modestly-scaled community projects and adaptations of traditional technologies to ambitious cities of the future, demonstrating that it is possible to find sustainable solutions regardless of community size or geography.
Green Community is organized around two orienting questions: What kind of community is green, and how can we make communities green?
The first part of the exhibition, which explores different kinds of green communities, is divided into six sections: Remediating, Repurposing, Reinvigorating; Getting Around; Land Conservation; Resourcefulness; Waste; and Close to Home. Each section highlights communities in the United States and around the world that take different approaches and find different solutions for a better relationship with the natural environment.
The second part of the exhibition is divided into areas about sustainable technologies, organized by the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The earth section contains information about edible landscaping, geothermal energy, and xeriscape. Air addresses wind energy, natural cooling, and emission reduction. Fire looks at solar power capture and converting waste to energy. Water examines gray and blackwater recycling, flood plain management and natural wetlands restoration, and damless hydropower. Each technology is illustrated with examples in communities around the world.
Susan Piedmont-Palladino is curator, and Reed Haslach is assistant curator. Find out more about the exhibit here…
About the National Building Museum
The National Building Museum is dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications.
