MUSEUM ORIENTATION & LOGISTICS Thank you for selecting the National Building Museum (NBM) for your field trip. The information found in this packet will help you prepare for your upcoming visit. Please be sure that all teachers attending the field trip review the enclosed information. Introduction to the National Building Museum About the National Building Museum | 1 Design Education: How Students Learn at the National Building Museum | 2 Facts About the National Building Museum’s Historic Home | 3 Preparing for Your Visit Preparing Your Students | 4 Map | 6 Directions | 6 Nametag Template | 7 Don’t Lose, Reuse Student Handout | 8 During Your Visit Upon Arrival | 9 Lunches | 9 Visiting the Museum Shop | 9 Tips for Being a Good Museum Visitor | 9-10 Touring the Building and Exhibitions | 10 Reinforcing Your Visit Post-Visit Lessons and Activities | 11 Provide Us with Feedback | 11 Introduction to the National Building Museum About the National Building Museum The National Building Museum advances the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. When most people think of a museum, they are likely to think of the things exhibited there: paintings, moon rocks, totem poles, or other objects of artistic, scientific, or cultural value. The National Building Museum has always offered visitors the chance to see many interesting objects, from drawings by famous architects to a full‐scale, environmentally friendly house built in our own galleries. Indeed, the care, interpretation, and thoughtful display of such artifacts are central to our mission. Vi The National Building Museum is, however, much more than a ew of the Great Hall Great the of ew repository of things, beautiful and intriguing though they may be. It is above all a forum for the development, exploration, and exchange of ideas. Created by an act of Congress in 1980, the National Building Museum has become one of the world’s most prominent and vital venues for informed, reasoned debate about the built © Kevin Allen Kevin environment and its impact on people’s lives. Our exhibitions, educational programs, and publications are well regarded not only for their capacity to enlighten and entertain, but also as vehicles for fostering lively discussions about a wide range of topics related to development, architecture, construction and engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning. The National Building Museum's impact is evidenced by the broad smiles of children taking part in our innovative, hands‐on youth programs and the rave reviews our exhibitions routinely receive. Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros‐Lehtinen was so moved by the Museum that she wrote, in an unsolicited letter, to congratulate us on our ability “to capture the essence of our nation’s rich history as well as the promise of its bright future.” The members, trustees, and staff of the National Building Museum share a belief that the world we build is a reflection of the aspirations, achievements, and conflicts that shape our society. Furthermore, because we believe that every American can play a part in the continual improvement of our built environment, we strive not just to illuminate the past and present, but to give professionals and laypeople alike the intellectual raw materials with which to construct the best possible future. We invite you to join us in that ongoing and rewarding endeavor. 1 Design Education: How Students Learn at the National Building Museum Youth education programs at the National Building Museum inspire students to examine the people, processes, and materials that create buildings, places, and structures. Museum programs are based on the ideas of design education. In design education, the design process is used as an educational model that gives students a framework within which they can solve problems. The design process asks young people to identify a problem or need, to imagine and create solutions, and then to evaluate their design. Learning by doing is central to design education. After engaging in hands-on activities that stimulate exploration of the built environment, students gain a fresh perspective on their surroundings and begin to understand how design decisions can have an impact on the environment. What is Design? Most people recognize a design as the aesthetic and functional details of a building or the layout of a printed advertisement. But design is also an action, a creative process that does not necessarily entail a visual component or even a tangible product. For example, a design can symbolize the organization of a team of workers or represent a plan for navigating one’s way home during rush‐hour traffic. Design as a Process The act of design is a purposeful and creative process for developing solutions for defined needs and audiences. The process of design consists of several actions, which are listed below. Evaluating the result of each action throughout the process is critical to ensure that the following actions are appropriate and practical. Students… Identify and define a problem or need. Investigate the circumstances and context surrounding the problem. Imagine potential solutions. Devise or plan a feasible solution, often in the form of a model or prototype. Produce a final solution, typically reflecting certain limitations or constraints (e.g., money, time, materials). Evaluate the end product, possibly leading to a cycle of design revisions. It is important to note that the design process is not linear, and actions do not always proceed sequentially. In fact, the phases of the design process often alternate back and forth and may repeat themselves before arriving at a final product. Design is a constantly shifting, fluid process. The Benefits of Design Education Design education closely correlates to real-life learning since it: Integrates information with experience Emphasizes thinking, and Links learning to living Promotes socialization and cooperation. During the design process, students are encouraged to become: Creative Critical thinkers Flexible Team players Problem solvers Excellent communicators Designers 2 Facts about the National Building Museum’s Historic Home 1. Who designed the National Building Museum? Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892), the former Quartermaster General in charge of provisions during the Civil War. He was a West Point-trained engineer. Meigs’ design was inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture. 2. When was it built and how much did it cost? 1882-1887 and $886,614.04 3. What was the building used for before it was a museum? Until 1926, it was occupied by the U.S. Pension Bureau, which provided pensions to veterans disabled during wartime. The building was later occupied by several other government agencies before becoming the National Building Museum in 1980. 4. How big is it? On the exterior, 400 feet by 200 feet, 75 feet to cornice level. 5. What is it made out of? 15,500,000 bricks with brick and terra cotta ornaments 6. How long is the frieze on the building’s exterior, and who designed it? 1,200 feet long, 3 feet high, made of terra cotta. Designed by Belgian-born sculptor Caspar Buberl (1834-1899). Features a continuous parade of Union Civil War units. 7. What are some interesting facts about the Great Hall inside of the Museum? The Great Hall is 316 feet by 116 feet (a little larger than a football field). The Great Hall is 159 feet—approximately 15 stories—at its highest point (The Statue of Liberty, without her base, could stand up straight if she were placed on top of the fountain.) The Presidential seal has been in place since 1901—one of the few Presidential seals to be permanently affixed to a building other than the White House. Presidential inaugural balls, from Grover Cleveland’s in 1885 to Barack Obama’s in 2009, have been held in the Great Hall. 8. What are the Corinthian columns made from and how tall are they? They are among the tallest interior columns in the world—75 feet high, 8 feet in diameter, and 25 feet in circumference. Each one is solid and built out of 70,000 bricks and covered by plaster. The columns were originally painted in 1895 to resemble marble. The present faux marble pattern was applied in 2000. 9. How many columns are part of the arcade and what are they made of? On the first floor, there are 72 Doric-style columns (made out of terra cotta covered with plaster) and on the second floor there are 72 Ionic-style columns (made of cast iron). 3 Preparing For Your Visit Preparing Your Students Arrange transportation and obtain permission slips. Some of the programs have educator resource packets with pre‐ and post‐visit lessons. Use these lessons to introduce concepts to your students before attending the museum program. The appropriate educator resource packet can be downloaded from the Museum’s website: http://go.nbm.org/educatorpackets. The more prepared your students are, the more they will get out of their Museum program. Review the map and directions to the National Building Museum (on page 6) and bring a copy with you. Contact the Museum’s school programs staff at 202.272.2448 or [email protected] if the number of students in your group changes by five or more. If you need to cancel or reschedule your program, you must do so at least three weeks in advance. Make nametags—use the template on page 7 to make it a fun activity. This helps our teaching staff work with your group. If you are participating in a City by Design program, please send home the “Don’t Lose, Reuse” handout on page 8 so students will collect the necessary program supplies. A select number of school programs include a visit to one of the Museum's exhibitions.