Dynamic, lively, stunning, soaring. These are the words used by Smithsonian officials and architect Spencer de Grey to describe the new Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, home to both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. With a blend of modern aesthetics and historic sensibilities, the new courtyard is a gorgeous space that the Smithsonian plans to use to hold public…

For all their symbolic power and grand civic functions, D.C. buildings built in the last half century have hardly created much buzz in terms of architecture, due in part to Washington’s reputation for staid and conservative design tastes. On the occasion that a renowned contemporary designer finds a willing local patron, their scheme rarely makes it through National Capital Planning Commission review without serious revision or delay, as with Norman Foster’s glass canopy finally under…

The Old Patent Office, the 1830s-era building in Gallery Place that is the home to the National Portrait Gallery, just got a major infusion of needed cash to build an enclosed canopy over its courtyard. The Post reports that Washington philanthropists Robert and Arlene Kogod have given the Smithsonian Institution $25 million for the project. That gift will help make the great enclosure (pictured here), designed by the esteemed Sir Norman Foster who designed a…