I.M. PEI'S EAST WING AWARDED AGAIN

In 1981, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, designed by I.M. Pei, was the recipient of a national honor award from the American Institute of Architects. Last month, the Washington D.C. building was further honored with the AIA's Twenty-Five Year Award. A jury of architects concluded that, "after a quarter century, this icon of contemporary architecture in a city of traditional monuments continues to delight and impress visitors from all over the world." Next week we'll explore why the marble-clad structure is considered as much timeless sculpture as the art it houses.

BUTABU ADOBE ARCHITECTURE OF WEST AFRICA

Adobe architecture has graced West Africa for centuries yet remains virtually unknown in the rest of the world. From modest homes to monumental mosques, beautifully sculpted "Butabu" structures can be found in a region of Africa where it rains just enough to make the moistened-earth building material, but not enough to destroy the standing buildings. Next week photographer James Morris and architectural historian Suzanne Preston Blier will introduce us to these inspiring structures.