An interesting question!

The big new visitors' center at the U.S. Capitol is also going to be
underground.  It does seem to be a significant trend.

My (uninformed) guess is that there are two main reasons for the
underground approach: security (in the case of high-profile sites such
as Virginia's and the nation's capitols); and history-sensitive
aesthetics: an underground site has minimal impact on a historic
landscape.   Going underground can also mean a lot more room when
above-ground space is already tight.

Have you been to either the Sackler Gallery or the National Museum of
African Art, the two Smithsonian museums that are almost completely
underground?  They both work rather well, I think.  But then, the
galleries of a museum--in which windows are undesirable because of the
effect of sunlight on precious artifacts--are a special case.

--Jurretta


On Jan 5, 2007, at 9:12 PM, Sunshine49 wrote:

> I'm wondering why we are turning into a nation of moles. Isn't the
> visitor's center at Mt. Vernon partly underground? They want (or have
> installed) an underground entrance to the grounds of the Washington
> Monument in DC. And the underground entrance and visitor's center at
> the State Capitol Bldg. in Richmond. I find it all rather creepy.
> What's wrong with just walking into a building, as Washington or
> Jefferson would have? I would think the impact would be so much more
> impressive, and genuine.
>
> Nancy
>
> -------
> I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
>
> --Daniel Boone

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