We the People

edited by Sheila Kim -- Interior Design, 6/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, the first museum to honor and explain the U.S. Constitution, opens—appropriately enough—on Independence Day. The 160,000-square-foot center is by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, led by principal Henry N. Cobb; Ralph Appelbaum Associates designed the exhibit halls, which include 100 interactive multimedia components. A limestone-and-granite wall on the building's monumental porch is emblazoned with the Constitution's preamble, and a 350-seat theater is encircled by a 16-foot-high glass wall printed with the Constitution's immortal words. From July 4; 215-923-0004; constitutioncenter.org.