The Atlanta Cyclorama is a painting depicting the 1864 civil war “Battle of Atlanta” and is one of the largest paintings in the world, measuring at 42 feet tall and 258 feet long. For about a century, the Cyclorama was housed in an unsuitable building, and suffered damage and tears due to water leakage. We made it our design objective to create a new home, suitable to preserve the historic painting, while also extending the narrative in such a way that it is also connected to the city’s present and future.  We started by locating the museum at one the highest elevations in the city of Atlanta, atop the land of a previous civil war fort in the corner of Grant Park. The circular form of the building allows visitors to enter the building at the ground level, then submerge them below ground via a ramp clad in imagery and artifacts from the history of the Atlanta before and during the civil war. The clockwise vortex ramp will then take visitors to an atrium space, surrounded by the Cyclorama painting.  As a symbolic critique of Atlanta’s past, circulation paths will then shift and become counterclockwise, as a symbolic shift in the city’s direction. As visitors emerge out of the ground, they are presented with the history of Atlanta after the civil war. This emergence towards the light symbolizes the future of Atlanta, as the city grows to an enlightened future. The space at the end of this emergence overlooks the city of Atlanta from its highest point, and houses models and designs for future projects by Atlanta developers, thus transforming a museum of the past into a showcase for the future.