With an impressive full-scale replica of the Senate chamber as its centerpiece, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate was officially dedicated in Boston this morning to the late lawmaker, who died in 2009 at age 77 after serving for nearly 50 years as a member of the legislative body. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joseph Biden were in attendance, alongside members of the Kennedy family.
Masterminded by New York–based Rafael Viñoly Architects, the 68,000-square-foot center comprises an elegantly symmetrical white concrete base crowned by a dark-gray volume clad in metallic paint. The institute, which graces a site adjacent to the I. M. Pei–designed John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, will serve a dual role as a space for civic education and a place to honor Senator Kennedy’s lifework.
In addition to a re-creation of Senator Kennedy’s office, the Institute will also house interactive exhibitions in ancillary galleries and host a series of Model Senate sessions, lectures, and more in the replica chamber.
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