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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBush Library Re-DesignEagle photo/Dave McDermand Designer William Maple shows plans for part of an 58.3 million redesign he's developing for the George Bush Presidential Library. Special to The Eagle Many of the museum's features will remain, including a Studebaker and a restored 1944 warplane. Bush Library redesigning museum More than 1 million visitors have walked through the exhibits at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum since it opened in 1997. They've seen the replica of the 1947 Studebaker that Bush drove while starting out in the oil business in West Texas. They've walked through a replica of Air Force One. Countless children have played the "Where's Millie" game, which involves looking for the former president's springer spaniel in the form of stuffed animals located throughout the exhibits. But after tnearly a decade of tours, it's time for a change, museum officals say. The museum will undergo an $8.3 million redesign next year to modernize and revitalize the exhibit area. Funding will come from private donations to the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. To allow for construction and staging, the 17,000-square-foot core exhibit space will close from March 2007 until November 2007, with a grand reopening celebration on Nov. 7 -- the 10th anniversary of the museum dedication. During the redesign, the gallery space will remain open. It features the White House in Miniature -- a popular exhibit that is a 1-inch-to-1-foot scale model of the presidential mansion. Designers and museum staff promise that the new exhibit area will be more technologically advanced, feature never-before-diplayed photographs and artifacts and give visitors a more in-depth view of the life and presidency of George Bush. William Maple of Universal Exhibit Design in California -- the company that designed the original exhibit area -- has started to work with museum staff on the plans for the space. He will be visiting the museum once a month until the redesign is complete. "Theres isn't a wall we aren't changing," Maple said. "Right now I'm working on details that don't mean much to the public now, but will make all the difference when the doors open." Maple said that, after the redesign, visitors can expect to get a fresh look at the 41st president's life and character. He plans to expand the area dedicated to the Bush family story, devote more space to former first lady Barbara Bush, improve the flow of the museum and incorporate title walls with quotes about the topic or era that particular area of the museum covers. "We want to capture his heartbeat, " Maple said. "The original exhibit didn't do that. We want to show why he did the things that he did and why he made the choices he made." Changes to the space will encompass everything from the fonts on display labels to the carpet and wall colors in an effort to give the exhibit a more "presidential" feel, Maple said. "What we are trying to do is to make the whole experience much better," said Warren Finch, director of the library and museum, "There will be some of the same elements, but the look will be completely different." Several of the museum's main exhibits will remain, in the Studebaker and a restored TBM Avenger airplane similar to the one Bush flew as a Navy pilot. But new elements will be introduced. Replicas of the Oval Office and Situation Room, where Bush was briefed and made key decisions during his presidency, will replace the current mock-up of Air Force One and the Camp David office. A 1987 modified Crown Victoria limoousine used by the president also will be added. A "Freedom Tribute" memorial to American soldiers who died during the first Gulf War also will be built, Maple said it could be the first memorial of its kind to honor those who died in the war. A big update to the new exhibit space will be technology. Flat-screen monitors, DVD players and even a flight simulator game will be among the additions that will create an interactive element in the museum. "There is a whole new generation of kids that are very comfortable with computers, and we really want to click into that," said Patricia Burchfield, curator of the museum. Another technological addition will be an audio wand system that will allow museum visitors to carry with them a cell-phone like device, dial a number and listen to audio commentary -- some featuring Bush's voice -- about a corresponding event. Advancements in technology really signaled to museum officials that it was time to update the exhibits. "It's time to do it," Finch said, "With the changes in technology, it's time. All presidential libraries change their exhibits. Stuff starts to look stale after a while. And that's our job -- to engage the visitor." The new exhibit space also will feature some never-before-exhibited photographs, documents, and artifacts gleaned from nearly a decade of perusing the Bush archive. "We've found so much more material," Finch said, "There really was only so much time to put in the original design." As opposed to other projects Maple has worked on, including the Trail of Tears Museum and the National Prisoners of War Museum, the Bush Museum has offered a new challenge, he said. The story being told through the museum is not yet complete. "He's a moving target," Maple said, "He has lived a large life spanning the Depression era through today. The story continues. We are 13 years out, and he's still very active." Finch said former President Bush has particpated in two meetings regarding the redesign, and he is involved with how the museum evolves. "We encourage his participation and his input," Finch said, "It's his life."