Courtyard Buzz November 18, 2007

Shirley and Catherine at the Festival's Bead Making Station

Museum intern Mary Savig spoke with several visitors on their reasons for coming to the grand opening:

Architecture aficionados, Ira and Kim came specifically to see the Norman Foster/Foster + Partners canopy design. They said their trip surpassed their expectations! Kim, from New York City, mentioned his apartment has a beautiful view of another Norman Foster creation, the Hearst Headquarters in New York City. Kim's friend, Ira, is a DC-based architect who pointed out his favorite feature of the new courtyard: the aluminum columns that bear the weight of the entire glass roof.

Local fan of both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Catherine, lives in Arlington, Virginia, and she convinced her friend, Shirley, to visit from Atlantic Beach, Florida. They, too, gave their seal of approval for the sun-filled and airy design of the courtyard.

Paul and Nelvia, long-time admirers of the museums, journeyed from Atlanta, Georgia. I was surprised to find out that this was one of their many trips to D.C. to see the Reynolds Center and they already have another trip planned for next year!

Sarah and Nick were simply walking by the museum on their way to lunch and saw the crowd heading into the museum so they followed. Here from Tennessee for the weekend, they were enjoying their very first visit to the museums.

I'm going back to the courtyard to find some more people!

• Kogod Courtyard, Smithsonian American Art Museum