Big plans for Bush Presidential Library at SMU

Southern Methodist University has big plans for the Bush Presidential Library. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that:

A spokesman for the National Archives in Washington confirmed that Southern Methodist University retained Hillier Architecture of Princeton, N.J., to prepare a conceptual master plan for the coveted project, tentatively plotted in the southeastern quadrant of the campus, bounded roughly by Airline Road, North Central Expressway and SMU Boulevard.

"It is intended to extend the mission of the library into the entire university," said a supporter who has seen the plan SMU presented to the presidential site selection committee in November.
"It is not going to be a stand-alone building in a field."

That's an approach that differs from recent presidential libraries, which generally have been autonomous structures, detached from their surroundings.

In the hunt for the new Bush library, Texas Tech University wants to place it and companion buildings on 100 acres in Lubbock, where "space is ample and vehicle friendly." The other finalists, Baylor University in Waco and the University of Dallas, also have offered large swaths of land – although federal guidelines have no specific size requirement for the library and museum site.

It's not known when the location for the library will be announced.