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From: "Architexturez." <interface.services@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 06:01:50 +0530
Big Digs: The problem with underground architecture.
By Witold Rybczynski
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006, at 7:31 AM ET
In 2003, Congress decreed that, since the National Mall in Washington,
D.C., was a "substantially completed work of civic art," the
construction of any additional memorials within its confines would
henceforth be prohibited. The Mall was, in effect, full. However, the
same statute included a single exception to the new rule: a proposed
visitor center for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Perhaps aware that it
was authorizing what would be the only freestanding visitor center on
the Mall—the Jefferson Memorial has a small facility in its
basement—Congress added a rider: "The visitor center shall be located
underground."
cont'd....
http://www.slate.com/id/2149911/