Capital Wheel at National Harbor
National Harbor, Maryland
The Capital Wheel at National Harbor celebrated its first anniversary in May, and in the year since it opened, plenty of people have celebrated anniversaries or marked other special occasions at the new attraction.
“That’s where they come to make treasured memories,” said Eli Stovall, managing partner for Icon Attractions, the company that manages operations.
The Capital Wheel is similar to, although smaller than, the London Eye and Las Vegas’ High Roller. The wheel is perched on the end of a 700-foot pier and rises 180 feet above the Potomac River water level. Each of the 42 glass-enclosed gondolas can hold eight passengers and is climate controlled for year-round access; riding in one is like “riding in a glass elevator,” Stovall said. From the top, passengers enjoy views of the river, the nearby Woodrow Wilson Bridge and even the Washington Monument on the horizon. At night, the Capital Wheel puts on another show with 1.6 million LED programmable lights.
Groups also enjoy strolling on the pier, along the marina waterfront and on nearby Waterfront Street, where they find restaurants and unique retailers such as a chocolatier and a Peeps store.
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York
The Whitney Museum of American Art is hardly new; it has been around for 84 years and is one of the nation’s foremost institutions for modern and contemporary art. But its newest incarnation is something of note. In May, the museum opened the doors of its new building, the museum’s fourth home in eight decades.
The $422 million project resulted in a glass jewelry box of a building located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. The 220,000-square-foot structure is nine stories tall, and topped with several terraces, and it has about 50,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space.
The idea of creating a “laboratory for artists” was at the heart of the Renzo Piano-designed museum. As such, it includes several one-of-a-kind spaces. The Laurie M. Tisch Education Center offers space specifically for education programs, and the multipurpose Kaufman Gallery can be used for film, video and live performances. There’s also a 170-seat theater, a library and a conservation center.
The museum’s inaugural exhibition, “America Is Hard to See,” features more than 600 works from 400 artists, all drawn from the Whitney’s permanent collection, and aims to examine the history of American art from 1900 to the present day.
National Blues Museum
St. Louis
Construction is underway on the new National Blues Museum that’s going up in downtown St. Louis. Work on the $15 million building should be done in late summer, and when the exhibits are complete, the museum should open in November or December, said Dion Brown, who became the executive director June 1.
The 23,000-square-foot museum will have about 16,000 square feet of exhibit space. Exhibits will include the “Blues Lab,” where visitors can record and “jam” in an interpretive setting, as well as a timeline exhibit that will help guests connect influences of various musicians.
Although there will be plenty of memorabilia and artifacts, the entire museum “is heavily interactive,” Brown said. When visitors arrive, they can start their own riff and add to it throughout the museum, so before leaving, “you’ll have your own song” to download and take with you, he said.
Brown also envisions engaging visitors with live music. He hopes to have live music at the museum at least Thursdays through Sundays and perhaps introduce a sort of “musician in residence” program to bring in musicians to lead activities, seminars and talks, and perform at the museum.
