The Blueprint

Welcome to the National Building Museum’s blog—your inside look at the world we design and build. Discover stories that celebrate our Museum and beyond, highlighting the people, places, and ideas shaping the built environment.

Plaster cast of a dog head.

A Tail Through Time: Dogs in the Museum’s Collection

Each year, the unique bond between human and dog is celebrated by observing National Dog Day on August 26. Though the official holiday was founded in 2004 by animal behaviorist…

Black and white photograph of a brick house.

Behind the Photographs: The Wurts Brothers Collection

The National Building Museum’s collections are estimated at more than half a million items. The largest material type (by quantity, not by size!) are photographic materials: prints, negatives, transparencies, slides,…

Storage and shelving of the Architectural Toy Collection

Adopt an Artifact: Architectural Toy Collection

George Wetzel began collecting building toys in the early 1980s after noticing that the toys he was buying for his children were strikingly different in both material and style from…

Paint tiles; architectural drawing; box with hinge; side chairs

New Acquisitions: 2024, Part 1

As part of its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build, the National Building Museum actively collects objects, photographs, and paper materials that document the building…

New items in the collection. Plaster molds, window, miniature building.

New Acquisitions: 2023

As part of its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build, the National Building Museum actively collects objects, photographs, and paper materials that document the building…

Harrison Apartments, 1903 (left) and 2025 (right).

The Harrison Apartments and Adaptive Reuse in DC

Washington, DC’s architectural story is one of evolution and adaptation, and few buildings illustrate that better than the Harrison Apartments. Tucked into the Judiciary Square neighborhood, this landmark structure has…

Wall of books in Building Stories

Four Hundred Years of Children’s Books About the Built Environment

For centuries, children’s books have shaped how young readers experience the world, including the buildings, cities, and landscapes they move through every day. Building Stories invites visitors to rediscover the…

A person doing parkour in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Momentum in Motion: Exploring Parkour and the Built Environment

As the National Building Museum launches Momentum Park(our), a new summer installation exploring the dynamic interaction between movement and buildings, we spoke with Mark Toorock to learn more about the…

Gray stone blocks in Freeway Park

Parkour Meets Design: Four Spaces Built for Movement

Parkour is more than a sport; it’s a conversation with architecture. Every railing, ledge, and staircase becomes an invitation to explore what a space can do and how bodies can…