The World Food Prize Foundation announced Thursday that Gensler Architecture, Design and Planning, RDG Planning and Design and Douglas Hoerr Landscape Architecture have been chosen to convert the historic Des Moines Public Library into the new Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Hall of Laureates.

The Hall of Laureates will be open to the public for many uses, including serving as an agriculture museum, conference center and community hall available for groups, meetings and events. It will also serve as a convocation center to hold the Norman Borlaug International Symposium, a home for the new National Youth Institute, and an educational facility featuring interactive exhibits on hunger and food security.

The Norman Borlaug Hall of Laureates is scheduled to open prior to the International Symposium for 2010. The World Food Prize organization intends to raise the remaining $16 million to complete the project; $13.3 million has been committed by the Ruan family, Polk County, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Park Service – Save America’s Treasures and the Belin law firm.