Portfolio / Kennedy Center Site Model in Foam

Located along the banks of the Potomac River just north of the Lincoln Memorial, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is both a memorial to President Kennedy as well as one of the most active performing arts and arts education centers in the United States. For the first major expansion in its history, Steven Holl was selected to design the expanded campus in order to provide new performance areas, rehearsal rooms, lecture halls, classrooms, event spaces, and informal gatherings areas. Holl’s design preserves the silhouette of the existing Edward Durell Stone building, while adding three pavilions spread across a site that will reconnect to the Potomac River.

Given the importance of the landscape for programming as well the goal of reconnecting the Kennedy Center to the waterfront, we were asked to fabricate a large site model that spanned from the existing building to the Roosevelt Bridge, and between the Potomac and the adjacent I-66. The model was cut from a large piece of high-density polyurethane foam on our CNC router. A separate piece was also created to serve as the Roosevelt Bridge. In addition to this foam model, we also created a version of the same site made from basswood.