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The Board of Trustees of the National Health Museum supports locating the Museum at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at Independence Avenue and 12th Street, SW. Legislation authorizing a general agreement to acquire the property from its owner, the federal General Services Administration (GSA), is now before Congress as H.R. 3630, The National Health Museum Act of 2005. Such a location would position the Museum to draw from more than 25 million individuals who visit the nation's capitol area each year. On the basis of preliminary research, NHM planners have estimated that a National Mall location will result in a minimum of 2 million annual visitors. These efforts are being headed by a Real Estate Committee of the NHM Board of Trustees assisted by a wide range of supporters.
 The
Museum is privileged to have as its architect the world-renowned
Moshe Safdie. Safdie was born in Haifa, Israel and educated
at McGill University in Montreal. After an apprenticeship
with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia (1962-63), he returned
to Montreal to design the master plan of the 1967 World Exposition.
Safdie established his own practice in 1964 to design and
supervise the construction of Habitat '67, the pioneering
residential complex whose underlying ideas on urbanism and
building systems emerged from his thesis. Safdie established
his Jerusalem office in 1970. In addition to his professional
practice, Safdie taught at many universities in the late 1960s
and 1970s, including McGill, Yale, and Ben Gurion. In 1978
he was appointed Director of the Urban Design Program at the
Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. From 1984-1989,
he was Ian Woodner Professor of Architecture and Urban Design.
Safdie has written several books, most notably, Form and
Purpose (1982), Beyond Habitat by 20 Years (1987),
and Jerusalem: The Future of the Past (1989). His most
recent book is The City After the Automobile (1997).
Moshe Safdie has received the
Gold Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada,
the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Gold Medal
as well as many honorary degrees. In 1990 the Moshe Safdie
Archive was established at the Canadian Architecture Collection
at McGill University.
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