a long-awaited library is rising over north dakota’s badlands

Snøhetta has released new footage documenting construction progress at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. The video captures the building as it rises along the northeast edge of a butte bordering Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Here, the building’s rammed earth walls and living green roof begin to define the project’s presence within the vast and scenic Badlands.

Set across 93 acres, the site remains legible throughout construction. The camera follows graded footpaths leading toward the slowly sloping roof plane, which appears as a continuation of the land rather than a separate object dropped onto it. The building’s relationship with the landscape will be more than just formal as it is designed to be regenerative and self-sufficient, aiming toward carbon neutrality. See more visualizations of the project from its 2020 unveiling here!

Still under construction, the library is set to open on for the 250th anniversary of the United States, July 4th, 2026.

construction advances along the butte overlooking Theodore Roosevelt National Park | visualization courtesy Snøhetta

snøhetta’s living roof of native landscaping

Snøhetta‘s newly unveiled video offers a closer look at the living green roof, a central component of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. Layers of reused on-site soil are already being positioned to support a Native Plant Project developed with Resource Environmental Solutions and North Dakota State University. More than sixty native species will eventually occupy this surface, reconstructing a prairie ecology of grasses, sedges, forbs, and shrubs that once defined the region.

From an architectural perspective, the roof reads as both structure and landscape. Its thickness and gentle curvature suggest insulation, water management, and plantings working together. Construction activity reveals how the roof mediates between interior spaces and the long views across the Badlands.

Snøhetta’s latest footage reveals the library emerging from graded terrain | image courtesy Snøhetta

inside the self-sufficient structure

Inside, Snøhetta’s video shows the emerging scale of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library’s galleries and circulation spaces. Structural bays frame future exhibition zones designed for immersive storytelling and digital archives, with careful attention to sound control, light modulation, and climate stability for artifacts.

The project’s regenerative ambitions include passive strategies and low-carbon materials which point toward targets of zero energy, zero emissions, zero water, and zero waste. At this phase, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library reads as a building assembled through systems that support long-term performance and seasonal use, shaped by the environmental pressures of the North Dakota plains and guided by a measured architectural logic.

native prairie plant systems are prepared as part of the roof assembly | image courtesy Snøhetta

the project’s regenerative ambitions include passive strategies and low-carbon materials | image courtesy Snøhetta

project info:

name: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library 

architect: Snøhetta | @snohetta

location: Medora, North Dakota, USA

client: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation (TRPLF) | @trlibrary

completion: expected July 4th, 2026

photography, video: courtesy Snøhetta