Edward Kennedy Institute, Boston, planned

BOSTON, July 29 (UPI) -- A Boston building named for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, for which private and federal funds will be used, won't be merely a shrine, Kennedy's widow said.

That taxpayer money will be used for the $60 million Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, scheduled to open in 2013 as part of the University of Massachusetts Boston, has raised some eyebrows, the Boston Globe reported Thursday.

"It will not be, as some have cynically suggested, a static library or a shrine, either to my husband or even to the United States Senate,'' said Victoria Reggie Kennedy, at the school's spring commencement. "Rather, it will be a dynamic center of learning and engagement that takes advantage of 21st-century technology to provide each visitor with a unique and information-rich, personalized experience that literally will bring history alive.''

The dimensions and appearance of the one-story institute, designed by Architect Rafael Vinoly, will not compete with the nearby John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

"I think what (Vinoly) saw as the mission of this building was to complement and not compete with I.M. Pei's design of the presidential library. He grasped the institute's mission, to educate young people about the Senate and to do this in a respectful way," said Peter Meade, president and chief executive of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.