Exhibit Celebrates East Building Turning 25 The National Gallery of Art celebrates a major landmark this year with the 25th anniversary of the East Building, home to the museumís 20th-century art, library and art history research center. To commemorate the occasion, the gallery is offering ìThe East Building: Celebrating 25 Years,î a long-term installation that highlights the buildingís history with architectural drawings, photographs and other archival materials. Architect I.M. Pei and his design team conceived the East Building after Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce offered the initial funds to build an extension to the ever-expanding gallery in 1967. The actual construction of the visually dramatic structure was fraught with challenges, including the need to conform to both the irregular, trapezoidal shape of the site and the monumental scale of the Mall, as well as to the more classic style of the adjacent West Building. In addition to the architectural plans and diagrams, the exhibit includes a scale model of the East Building that shows the many revisions made to the buildingís faÁades. Regardless whether or not you are an architecture buff, it is fascinating to see the many transformations the building underwent in the design process before the completed version was settled on. ìThe East Building: Celebrating 25 Yearsî runs through June 1, 2004, at the National Gallery of Art, 3rd and 9th streets at Constitution Avenue, NW. For more information, please call (202) 737-4215 or visit www.nga.gov. óAnna Gawel