A rough sketch. (NMOTJP.org)

Gradually, gradually, the big-name out-of-town modern architects are planting their flags in D.C. To grumbling from classicists, Frank Gehry‘s got the Eisenhower memorial. Eastbanc commissioned Enrique Norten for their West End project. And now, World Trade Center master planner* Daniel Libeskind has a crack at a spot in D.C., with the National Museum of the Jewish People‘ proposal for the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue.

It wouldn’t be the whole building, obviously. The lion’s share of the space would be taken up by a Park Hyatt hotel, while the museum would be built on the site of the existing glass annex. The museum has already been extensively programmed, and includes—-get this—-holographic representations of famous Jews, like Sandy Koufax. With exhibits about Jewish contributions to culture, architecture, science, etc., the museum is supposed to have an “uplifting narrative” that will “balance the tragic story told in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum” (not to mention another depressing museum that should be coming online at about the same time).

And obviously, Libeskind is the guy to take on this kind of thing, having already designed Jewish museums in Berlin, San Francisco, and Copenhagen.

The museum people are up against Donald Trump, JBG, Monument, and at least one other that I haven’t quite pinned down yet.

* Corrected; Libeskind did not design the Freedom Tower.