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News Releases |
Designers Unveil Plans for New Infantry Museum
 Columbus,
Georgia -- January 17, 2006: Exhibit designers and architects
wowed community leaders and stakeholders with detailed plans for
the new National Infantry Museum and Heritage Park at a presentation
today in downtown Columbus. The update featured an announcement
that the National Infantry Foundation has signed a contract with
IMAX to build the region's only 3-D digital theater.
The 5-story IMAX screen will show a rotation of
films including cinematic blockbusters like Deep Sea 3D, Fighter
Pilot and NASCAR. The National Infantry
Museum's IMAX theater will be only the third in Georgia; the others
are in Atlanta and Buford. The 300-seat theater can also be used
for presentations and programs.
Designers have been working on plans for the world-class
museum for about a year, and have nearly completed the design development
phase of the project. The next step will be selecting a fabricator
to begin construction of the exhibits.
The new museum's signature element will be "The
Last 100 Yards," a gently inclining ramp that carries visitors
from the museum's entrance to the Fort Benning gallery and reenacts
nine conflicts from the Infantry's 230-year history. After learning
about the story of Fort Benning and the critical role it continues
to play in training today's soldiers, visitors find themselves overlooking
the ramp and the grand central gallery below, which will be used
for dinners, galas and award ceremonies as well as for museum programs.
Ringing the central gallery are the era galleries,
chronicling Infantry history from the Revolutionary War to the present.
The galleries will feature immersive experiences such as a World
War I trench for visitors to walk through, and a glass-enclosed
Vietnam jungle that will put visitors face to face with the enemy.
The 200-acre site includes a seven-acre parade
field for soldier graduations and change-of-command ceremonies,
a memorial walk of honor with reflective gardens, a replica of Fort
Benning's 250-foot jump towers and a re-created World War II Company
Street. Work on the Company Street, as well as necessary Riverwalk
relocation, is already well under way.
The National Infantry Foundation has raised just
under $43 million toward the project goal of $75 million. It is
still on target for completing construction of the new museum by
the end of 2007.
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