Now the building is occupied by two museums from among the members of the Smithsonian Institution - the Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery. Now they are connected by a courtyard with glass ceilings turned into a lobby and a concert hall.
The author of the project is Norman Foster, who had to revise his proposal several times. The neoclassical complex of the Patent Office dates back to the first half of the 19th century and is one of the oldest buildings in the capital of the United States. He was also admired by Walt Whitman, therefore, architectural historians, officials and ordinary citizens took it very seriously. As a result, Foster had to place the weight of the undulating glass roof on eight metal supports, completely freeing the walls of the monument; the lighting and sound reinforcement system is hidden in these aluminum-clad "columns", along with the rainwater collection pipes. They also demanded from the architect that the ceilings be completely hidden behind the facades of the building when viewed from the street. To this end, the height of the "collapsed vaults" of this roof was significantly lowered, although its graceful forms would hardly have disturbed the harmony of the neoclassical architecture of the Office.
The curvilinear forms of glass floors are, to a certain extent, a forced decision: the historical complex of the building was created over several decades, and its facades are not of the same height, which is hidden by the wavy line of the new roof.
The 862 glass panels are covered with white glazed lumps, added by fritting, which partially deprives it of transparency and will prevent the sun from heating up the courtyard much even during the summer months.
Inside, on an area of 2600 sq. in the evenings there will be concerts and official receptions. During the opening hours of the museum, the courtyard will serve as a public space open to all, a recreational area in the city center. To prevent the new "hall" from being too echoing, the metal frame of the floors was laid with a material - "acoustic absorbent": the resulting damping effect is equal to the use of a thick carpet over the entire area of the courtyard.
Landscape architect Katherine Gustafson placed two ten-meter tall ficuses, 16 olives, bushes and ferns, planted in huge tubs of white marble, in the courtyard of the museum. The space was also supplemented by four small fountains: the layer of water in them is so thin that visitors can wade through them, almost without getting their shoes wet. These streams flow directly over the granite slabs of the floor, without a special "channel". If necessary, for example, during a ball, they can be easily turned off.
