Exhibition Fact Sheet from the National Building Museum

Green Community: Fact Sheet

Exhibition

Green Community

When

October 23, 2008 through October 25, 2009

Where

National Building Museum, second floor galleries

Overview

As interest grows in the movement toward environmental sustainability, Green Community is an exciting new 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 exhibition 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.

In today’s political and social climate that emphasizes the inevitability and urgency of global warming, Green Community presents 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.

Exhibition Layout

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.

Curators

Susan Piedmont-Palladino, curator
Reed Haslach, assistant curator

Sponsors

The presenting sponsor of Green Community is the American Planning Association.  Major funding is provided by The American Public Transportation Association; The Nathan Cummings Foundation; Discovery Communications; U.S. Department of Energy; James G. Davis Construction Corporation; RTKL Associates Inc.; The Tower Companies; U.S. Green Building Council; and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;  with generous support from American Society of Landscape Architects; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP; Donald A. Capoccia; Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development; National Endowment for the Arts; Perkins+Will;  Turner Construction Company; AECOM: DMJM H&N, EDAW, ERA, HSMM; Arup; the Durst Organization; EastBanc; FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS, LLP; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC; Nixon Peabody LLP; PEPCO; SmithGroup/JJR; and STUDIOS Architecture, among others. The Sustainable Communities Lecture Series is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation. McGraw-Hill Construction is the official media partner. Sustainability initiatives at the National Building Museum are generously supported by The Home Depot Foundation.

The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution 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 vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. Museum Shop. Café. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org.

For more information, please contact the Marketing and Communications Department at 202.272.2448, ext. 3109 or pressoffice@nbm.org.