NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A groundbreaking was held for the $14 million Bollinger Canopy of Peace, which will serve as the defining architectural feature of the National World War II Museum and the newest distinctive addition to the New Orleans skyline.

News outlets report that work began on the bright white canopy that will be about a dozen stories high on Wednesday. The edifice was designed as a visually unifying feature for buildings that make up the museum.

It'll partially shade the interior of the museum's six-acre campus during the day and be programmed with colored lighting. The canopy's architect, Bart Voorsanger, says he wanted the design to represent the notion of peace through strength. He says two of the four legs come together before they contact the earth, creating an asymmetry that signifies the complexity of the path to peace