Design for Bush's Library Unveiled

Former first lady unveils design for Bush's library |
11/19/2009
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Story last updated at 11/19/2009 - 12:27 am

DALLAS - Former first lady Laura Bush on Wednesday unveiled the design of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which will be a modern brick and limestone building set amid a Texas-inspired landscape including wildflowers and prairies.

Laura Bush, who chaired the design committee for the center, said both she and the former president wanted the building on the campus of Dallas' Southern Methodist University to be approachable.

"He and I both wanted it to be human in scale, not monumental," she said.

The about 227,000 square-foot, three-story center designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern will house an archive, a museum and a policy institute. The groundbreaking is expected a year from now and the center is expected to be completed by spring 2013.

Laura Bush, a graduate of SMU, said that the center, situated on 23 acres, was also designed to complement the university's Georgian architecture.

Lubbock and Texas Tech had been considered as a site for the facility.

Visitors to the museum will enter through Freedom Hall, a large light-filled open space that will tie different aspects of the center together. The museum's permanent exhibit includes a replica of the Oval Office as it appeared during the Bush administration and the White House Rose Garden.

Laura Bush said that she expects she and the former president will frequently be at the center, where they both will have offices. She also said she hopes the center, which also will include a cafe, will be a space that can be enjoyed by SMU students and the local community.

One of the landscape architects, Matthew Urbanski, said the grounds will feature everything from a wildflower meadow that includes bluebonnets to a wet prairie, a tall grass prairie and a woodland.

Sustainable design strategies for the center include using local building materials, 20 percent recycled materials, solar hot water panels and native landscaping.

Meanwhile, a land dispute between SMU and a former condominium owner over the center's site continues. The condo owner filed a lawsuit accusing the school of illegally taking control of the condo complex on the land and forcing out residents. SMU has said the process of acquiring the complex was lawful.

SMU spokeswoman Patti LaSalle said the school is in negotiations to settle the lawsuit and added that the disputed land is on a portion of the grounds, not the area where the building will be located.