THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY AND JACKSON HOLE HISTORY MUSEUM TO BE HONORED AS 2026 BUILDY AWARD WINNERS

The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Building Museums™ Symposium Buildy Award: the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.) and the Jackson Hole History Museum (Jackson, Wyoming). In addition, three projects have received Honorable Mentions: the Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE); the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY); and the Cylburn Arboretum Friends Nature Center (Baltimore, MD). These projects were selected from a competitive national pool and represent a wide range of museum types, scales, and approaches, reflecting excellence in museum planning, design, and innovation.

The Buildy Award is MAAM’s highest recognition for completed museum building projects, honoring institutions that demonstrate exemplary leadership in planning, design, and construction—and achieve transformational organizational impact after project completion. The award celebrates museum directors, staff, trustees, and design and construction teams whose collaborative efforts result in sustainable, mission-driven cultural facilities that serve their communities for generations to come.

What sets the Buildy Award apart is its emphasis on leadership, collaboration, and institutional impact. Projects of all sizes and budgets are eligible, with evaluation focused on how effectively museum leadership navigated complex stakeholder interests—including staff, trustees, donors, designers, contractors, and visitors—to create lasting, financially sustainable assets that advance mission and serve the public.

Award recipients will be formally recognized on March 13, 2026, during MAAM’s 20th Building Museums™ Symposium.

Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library was selected for its exemplary integration of historic preservation, architectural innovation, and public access. The renovation repositions a world-class research library as an open, welcoming cultural destination, introducing a new public “front door,” dramatically improved accessibility, expanded exhibition and public spaces, and advanced preservation infrastructure. Highlights include the first-ever permanent public display of all 82 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio in a purpose-built, environmentally controlled gallery. The project balances scholarly rigor with broad public engagement and has resulted in a significant increase in visitation and community use, while preserving the integrity of Paul Philippe Cret’s iconic building adjacent to the United States Capitol campus.

The Folger Shakespeare Library project team included KieranTimberlake (architect), OLIN Studio (landscape architect), Studio Joseph (exhibit design), Pentagram (graphic design and wayfinding), MTFA (historic preservation), Silman (now TYLin) (structural engineering), Altieri (MEP/FP), Tillotson Design Associates (lighting design), Gilbane Building Company (construction manager), and Becker & Frondorf (owner’s representative).

About Folger Shakespeare Library

Founded in 1932, the Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare’s stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a cultural organization where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

About KieranTimberlake

Founded in 1984, KieranTimberlake brings together 80 professionals from diverse backgrounds in a globally recognized, transdisciplinary practice. In 2025, after 40 years of founder leadership, we became 100% employee-owned. We design new buildings and transform existing ones, specializing in education, government, arts and culture, civic, and residential projects. Our work has earned hundreds of design awards, including the AIA Firm Award and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. For media inquiries, please contact: Huwayda Fakhry, Business Strategy and Communications Director, KieranTimberlake, hfakhry@kierantimberake.com.

Jackson Hole History Museum

The Jackson Hole History Museum earned a Buildy Award for its deeply collaborative, community-driven approach to museum expansion and interpretation. Emerging from a grassroots effort to “Save the Block” for public use, the project reimagines the museum as a civic and cultural hub that centers local history, Indigenous partnerships, and shared public space. The new campus integrates preserved historic cabins, contemporary galleries, outdoor gathering areas, and a highly visible mural by an Indigenous artist. Exhibitions and programs foreground underrepresented voices and regional narratives, while providing universal accessibility, sustainable site strategies, and flexible, well-planned public and back of house spaces that strengthen the museum’s role as a community anchor in a rapidly changing region.

The Jackson Hole History Museum project team included HGA (lead architect), Prospect Studio (local architect), Gallagher & Associates (exhibit design), ACM (contractor), Berning Project Management (owner’s representative) and extensive collaboration with the Eastern Shoshone and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Working with Jackson Hole Public Art, a large mural was painted by Nanibah Chacon in partnership with Eastern Shoshone educator, Lynette St. Clair. Nina Simon, Alissa Rupp, and Michele Pacifico provided strategic planning guidance and museum expertise. 

About the Jackson Hole History Museum

History Jackson Hole (HJH) is a nonprofit organization that tells the stories of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that connect people to the history of the valley and region. It stewards and shares artifacts and ideas that foster curiosity and continual learning, forges connections, and informs 21st-century dialog. Opened in 2024, History Jackson Hole 

administers the Jackson Hole History Museum Campus that provides engaging exhibit, educational, and community gathering spaces with two exhibition galleries, archive center, education classroom, historic cabins, outdoor programming space, and museum store in the heart of downtown Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Learn more: jacksonholehistory.org.

About HGA
HGA is a national interdisciplinary design firm committed to making a positive, lasting impact for our clients and communities through research-based, holistic solutions. We believe that great design requires curiosity — forming deep insight into our clients, their contexts, and the human condition. Our collective of more than 1,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, planners, researchers, and strategists works across arts and culture, community, healthcare, science and technology, workplace, education, and government markets. Visit HGA.com or follow HGA on LinkedIn and Instagram. For media inquiries, please contact: Michelle Nelsen, Public Relations Director, HGA, mnelsen@hga.com.

About the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums

The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1947 to represent museum professionals, organizations, institutions, museum service providers, and industry partners in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. MAAM provides a forum to enhance the image of museums and educate individuals on an array of field-specific study and programs.

MAAM’s sparks dialogue among museum and industry professionals to build sustainable and inclusive museums for their communities. MAAM brings together the resources of the Mid-Atlantic’s museum community and makes them available to its members through conferences, symposia, and workshops. MAAM’s programming evolves with the needs of the field, with two major events each year. MAAM’s Annual Conference is a member-driven forum to share ideas and allow for opportunities to network and connect. MAAM’s Building Museums ™ Symposium is unique among museum conferences in offering programming tailored for those who plan or implement new construction, renovation, or expansion projects for museums. 

The 2026 Buildy Award Selection Committee included:

• Ann Trowbridge, Smithsonian Institution (retired), Chair
• Lauren Aaronson, Exhibit Developer, Liberty Science Center
• Adam Bridge, Principal, Ayers Saint Gross
• Melissa Kiewiet, Executive Director, Dyckman Farmhouse Museum
• Martha Morris, Associate Professor Emerita, George Washington University
• Monika Smith, Principal, DLR Group
• Sandra Vicchio, Principal, Sandra Vicchio Associates
• Nancy Walsh, Denver Museum of Nature & Science