Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly has been selected to build the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, a planned educational facility that will abut the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The $60 million project, scheduled to break ground this fall, will include a 44,000-square-foot building with two stories of space for an exhibit hall detailing the politician's storied life and 46-year senate career, a re-creation of his senate office, an oral history archive, and educational facilities.

The institute, dedicated to the memory of the man known as the Lion of the Senate, who passed away last August, is the latest prominent commission for Viñoly, who is known for sleek, functional buildings distinguished by graceful curves that nod to the more radical work of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Tomorrow, New York's city council is set to approve plans for the architect to build a 2.8 million-square-foot residential complex on the site of the former Domino sugar plant in Brooklyn. Viñoly is currently overseeing the master plan for New York University's Abu Dhabi campus, plus two prominent — and controversial — projects in London: a revitalization plan for the Battersea Power Station and a curvaceous new high-rise already known as the "Walkie Talkie." Meanwhile, the first phase of the architect's ambitious $350 million overhaul of the Cleveland Museum of Art opened last year.

Viñoly, who is known for including vast, open-plan arcade spaces in his buildings, is hoping to achieve a LEED certification for the Kennedy institute building. No completion date has been released for the project, which will eventually encompass facilities that recount every vote, motion, and legislative maneuver ever carried out in the Senate. Kennedy's personal papers will be stored at his brother's library next door — though digital copies will be available at the institute.