National Building Museum — Attraction in Washington

I've wanted to visit these exhibits for a while since the NBM was used as a staging area for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and I finally took that opportunity, and it wasn't that bad! There were 12(!) exhibits, and it was hit or miss, but the exhibits were extremely varied!

$10 per adult. $7 for students. FREE if you are a member!

For Summer 2022 here are some of the following exhibits:

The Playhouse - 5/5: They transformed the atrium into the Folger Theatre, and are playing A Midsummer's Night Dream, and they have activities around the stage, and backstage tours! Really cool, I want to go back and see the actual play.

The Wall - 5/5: Very interesting and evocative exhibit, that's designed to initiate conversations since most visitors are probably "anti-wall". Stories from both sides of the border, and how border communities have evolved over time as policy changes.

Gun Violence Memorial Project - 5/5: Somber, poignant, and simple exhibit that has houses with cubbies that are filled with names and belongings of those killed by gun violence. Reminds us that everyone who died had a name, a family, hopes and dreams, and a community that mourns them.

What's Already There - 2/5: Seemed incomplete, but an exhibit demonstrating how Brussels is changing the urban landscape with sustainable practices, but the exhibit was not well guided, and I didn't know what I was looking at.

M|LAB - 5/5: It's a small exhibit, but super cool. Utilizing audio-visual, the exhibit transports you to different locations and you get to see how sound travels in different locations like the sound windmills make in an open field!

Notre-Dame De Paris: The Augmented Exhibition - 4/5: A technological exhibit that explores the construction, destruction, and rebuilding of the Notre-Dame in Paris. I thought a lot of the information wasn't well presented and focused on using AR for the entire exhibit rather than allowing AR to provide a...

I love museums; I have been to many more than the average person. This is the worst museum I have ever been in in my life by a long shot. There were four "exhibits." One was about reading. One was about legos. One was about furniture. And one was a display of miniature trinkets shaped like buildings from around the country. There was NOTHING about architecture. NOTHING about the development of building technologies. NOTHING about the history of humans and buildings. NOTHING about the inner workings of buildings--elevators, boilers, electricity, etc. NOTHING comparing buildings from around the world. NOTHING about construction techniques and machines and tools. A museum about buildings could be very interesting. This place is such a piece of garbage it shocks the senses. I literally had to ask one of the docents, "am I missing something? Is there anything here about buildings?" To which he actually answered, "not right now." It's so bad it's really difficult to comprehend how it came to be. What is the mind that would put energy into creating such a pointless boring unedifying place, and then on top of that to call it a "building museum"? Please please please do not go here, and make sure no one else you know wastes their time either. It doesn't matter if you've seen the Lincoln Memorial a thousand times or Archie Bunker's chair, you'll get more out of seeing them once again than you will visiting the "building stories" exhibit. (PS It's not like the exhibits they did have were well done. The lego exhibit is just a room with twenty buildings made out of legos. How could that be interesting to anyone?) (In these pictures, "Building readers" has the word "building" in...

I don't know who this museum is for, but it doesn't appear to be adults. I was excited to visit a museum dedicated to the history and design of real estate. I imagined a room or exhibit displaying the best of American styles, through historical architecture developments. A room for contemporary, for baroque, for traditional. But, what did I get? Three exhibits displaying some other adult's miniature building and junk collection. YES, you read that right, 3 exhibits of miniature buildings and assorted junk. THREE! There is no historical context in those exhibits, and they appear to carry absolutely no historical significance whatsoever. One exhibit was dedicated to Legos. Screaming children playing with Legos accompanied the little Lego buildings. Cute. I lasted about 6 minutes in there. There were only 2 other exhibits. One was the most unbelievably boring examination of downtown restoration projects. I mean, not even city engineers could be interested in this exhibit. Tiny little pictures are accompanied by mostly text explaining every aspect of downtown building that you did not know you weren't interested in. The final exhibit actually had photos of different types of southern architectural designs. That was the only thing I actually expected to find in a Building Museum.

Look, I don't know who this museum is for, but it's probably not you. It appears to be almost entirely a formal dinning room for the Govt. I cannot believe how much time I wasted getting here and actually trying to enjoy what the museum offered. 100% worst museum I've ever...