| | Projects | |  | | |
Contacts | | |
| Contents | | |
Site
9.5-acres on Columbia Point, facing across Dorchester Bay to the Boston
skyline, to Boston Harbor and further east, to the open sea
| |  | | Boston, MassachusettsGross Area
113,000 s/f Client
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Inc., Columbia Point, Boston, MassachusettsTime Frame
Master planning: 1966–
Planning: 3/76–
Construction: 8/77–
Completion: 10/79
Extension completed 5/91 |
|
| |  | John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library |
| Boston, Massachusetts
Completed 1979
Extension Completed 1991 |
A presidential library and museum facility
|
| Click on image to enlarge The Kennedy Library was erected on a landfill site overlooking Boston, Dorchester Bay, and the ocean beyond. To overcome existing conditions, the site was raised 15 feet and planted with beach grasses to recall Kennedy's love of the sea. Within a limited space and budget, the design had to fulfill a complex-mixed use program while symbolically remembering the late young president in terms both contemporary and timeless. A split-level design was
developed, organizing museum spaces in a layer below ground, with key emotive elements dramatically isolated above. The solution consists of a triangular 10-story tower housing archival, educational and administrative functions, a two-story base containing exhibition space and two 300-seat theaters, and a 110-foot high memorial pavilion, which gives coherence and focus to the whole. After viewing a film about Kennedy's life,
visitors descend into linked exhibition areas highlighting the president's family and administration. From this darkened setting they emerge into the sun-filled, silent void of the space-framed glass pavilion. Except for an enormous American flag suspended above, the space is empty to allow the viewer to contemplate what he has seen and experienced against a great panorama of sky, land and open sea.In 1991 a 21,000 s/f multifunction waterfront addition was constructed to support
the library's active educational and cultural programs. |
| Presidential library and museum facility with exhibition spaces, two auditoria, a research center,
archives, and administrative offices |
| 1986 |
|
| Adaptive Environment Center: The Best of Accessible Boston: Commendation Award |
|
| Prestressed Concrete Institute Award |
|
I. M. Pei & Partners services |
| Site Selection; Complete Architectural Services; Interior Design |
| Chermayeff & Geismar Associates, New York, NY |
| Office of Dan Kiley, Charlotte, VT |
| Travers Associates, Clifton, NJ |
|
