Construction has begun on the Museum of the Bible, which will see a landmarked refrigeration warehouse two blocks from the National Mall converted into an $800M museum to display some 44,000 Biblical artifacts collected by the president of Hobby Lobby, the evangelical craft store chain. The renovation of the eight-story 1923 building is being led by SmithGroup JJR, a D.C. firm that is also working on the African American museum and a proposed LGBT museum. Although drastic exterior changes to the protected warehouse are not allowed, the firm will add a two-story zinc-and-glass volume shaped like an ark to the top of the building.
LED ceilings, stained glass panels, and Dead Sea scrolls. >>