Via The New York Times:
“The Smithsonian’s eye-popping $2 billion expansion plan was supposed to propel the institution into the 21st century.
Complete with an ambitious expansion of its 19th-century red administration building, the Castle, that would have added dining, retail and restrooms, and new National Mall-facing entrances to the National Museum of African Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the concept designs for its south campus were unveiled with great fanfare in 2014. The first phase, which included repairs to the exterior of the Hirshhorn Museum, was already underway.
But on Wednesday, the organization said its master plan would no longer include any of those elements, and had instead been revised to focus on restorations to the interior and exterior of the Castle, and interior and underground improvements to the Arts and Industries Building, which has been largely closed since 2004 for renovations.
Ann Trowbridge, the Smithsonian’s associate director for planning, said preserving the buildings had been the redesign’s focus from the beginning. “The key aspects of the master plan with respect to the Castle, A.I.B. and the Hirshhorn have always focused on restoration and renovation of their historic fabric,” she said. “And that continues to be the priority.””
