Description: In November 2007, a much anticipated new public space opened at the National Gallery of Art/Smithsonian Art Museum -- the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. The challenge had been to enclose a vast (28,000 sq. ft) outdoor space at the center of the massive Smithsonian museum. The building (1867) is one of the oldest federal buildings in DC, and originally served as the Patent Office. It was subsequently home to several government agencies over the years before being taken over by the Smithsonian in 1964. However, it was evident even then that the aging Greek Revival structure needed a complete makeover.

The renovation, which began in 2000, was predictably expensive and lengthy, but the results have been hailed as a complete success. Now the revamped National Portrait Gallery is at the heart of a once-shabby downtown neighborhood that has undergone a transformation into an area which now vies with the National Mall in terms of attractions and appeal.

In large part, the success of the building's renovation is due to the inspired idea to enclose its central open courtyard. The original courtyard at that point had become completely unusable, a jumble of overgrown shrubs and trees. The Smithsonian held an international competition to find the best plan, and settled upon a breathtaking design by the London firm Foster + Partners.

When I first set foot in the courtyard, I exclaimed, "This has got to be by the same people who did the courtyard at the British Museum", and indeed this is the case. The similarities between the Kogod Courtyard and the Great Court at the British Museum are indeed striking.

In both cases, a massive latticed roof seems to float above a vast space. In the case of the Kogod Courtyard, eight columns support the nine-hundred-ton roof, which consists of over 800 glass panels, no two of exactly the same size. However, the roof of the Kogod Courtyard is undulating, unlike the radiating design of the Great Court in London, but in both cases the effect is dazzling.

Accolades were heaped upon Foster + Partners' design, primarily for its successful grafting of a contemporary structure onto an old one in a manner that managed to enhance both. Condé Nast Traveler magazine cited the Kogod Courtyard as one of the new "Seven Architectural Wonders of the World," for example, while other awards lauded a successful marriage of the old and new.

One of the features I like best about the courtyard is that it is relatively quiet. There is none of that dreadful "shopping mall echo" so often found in large public spaces such as this, primarily because the steel grids of the roof contain recycled denim that acts as an acoustical damper. Mention should be made of the landscaping design done by Kathryn Gustafson, too. She incorporated her signature "water scrims," or extremely shallow fountains flowing over four large rectangles. Children (and adults) delight in walking through these scrims, leaving damp footprints in their wakes.

The landscaping includes forty-eight full-sized trees (mostly ficus and black olives) as well as a variety of shrubs set into wide-rimmed planting areas. These marble structures double as low benches, while modern cafe tables and chairs are casually clustered near the museum's cafe and in various clusters near the trees. Free Wi-Fi is provided, making the Kogod Courtyard a splendid place to sit and enjoy "the outdoors" while indoors.

Indeed, this splendid courtyard feels like the great indoors, but with none of its drawbacks. Sit in comfort at the cafe on a cold winter's day and enjoy a glass of wine, as I did recently, and you'll wonder why more public spaces can't be given the "Foster + Partners/Gustafson treatment."

Perhaps they should.


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