Bush Library designed by HOK for international focus.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 1994--The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum held groundbreaking ceremonies Wednesday at the planned facility's site on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas.

Construction of the $42 million facility, designed by the Houston office of HOK (Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum), will start soon after the groundbreaking and is expected to be completed in early 1997. The library and museum includes 44,607 square feet of archival and office space and 24,818 of public exhibition space.

"The function of the library is to communicate the life and work of President and Mrs. Bush," states James Wright, AIA, the HOK project design director. "Two themes guide the design -- adherence to an unaffected, contemporary aesthetic reflective of Bush's international focus, and a sensitive response to the site in terms of planning, vegetation and the use of regional materials."

Sited at the end of a curving, landscaped drive and fronted by a circular plaza, the Library Center creates a sense of place at the heart of a 90-acre rolling meadow. Trees and plantings of native species and the re-introduction of native grasses further enhance the natural beauty of the site.

Upon arrival, an inviting, semi-circular glass entry reveals the volume of the lobby rotunda and anticipates the activity inside. Clad in a combination of Texas granite and limestone, the Library is distinctive, yet is harmonious with the Southwestern palette of existing Texas A&M buildings.

Perpendicular wings -- a tall, one-story exhibition wing and a three-story archival wing -- are centered by a 50 foot high lobby crowned by a skylight rotunda. Essentially a "black box" to house light-sensitive displays, break-out spaces occur along the exhibit's path that are configured to provide outside awareness. An interior connection spine, providing additional linear exhibit space and views to the terraced plaza, leads visitors back to the lobby.

Inside the main lobby, visitors will find a 150-seat orientation theater, a gift shop and restrooms. Overhead, a glass wall offers a view into the second level of the archives, giving visitors a glimpse of researchers at work.

By carefully resolving all the complex programmatic requirements up front, the facility was developed from the inside out, setting the stage to make this presidential library highly flexible and technologically advanced.

In addition to the Library and Museum, HOK has designed the adjacent Texas A&M School of Government and Public Service and a shared-use facility that includes an academic component, meeting rooms, two auditoria, Bush Foundation offices and an apartment.

HOK, founded in 1955 in St. Louis as a 24-member firm, has grown in size to a 1,400-member multi-disciplinary design firm serving clients in varied fields including health care, aviation, justice, sports, corporate and other areas. This year, HOK was ranked the top architecture/engineering firm in general building by Engineering News-Record and the second ranking architectural firm in the world by World Architecture.

CONTACT: HOK, Houston

              Dana Collins, 800/788-5518
              Renate Schweiger, 713/599-2813