"Whenever someone asks me what I think of the National Museum of the American Indian, I always give the same answer: It is one of the few museums I was eager to leave after a relatively short visit.

I find the museum's design flawed in many ways. Some of its flaws reflect in part the contentious process by which it was designed, in part the complexity of its challenging mission and in part the unique aesthetic credo of Native American architect Douglas Cardinal, the man responsible for the museum's design concept.

Best known for his design of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, Cardinal's compositional ethos is predicated on expressing in architecture the organic patterns of nature. Using circular and curving forms, he persistently eschews the angular and the rectilinear."

Get the Story:
Roger K. Lewis: Indian Museum's Uneasy Presence Bespeaks Troubled Past (The Washington 6/11)
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Relevant Links:
National Museum of the American Indian - http://www.nmai.si.edu

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