african american history and culture
TRANSCRIPT
National Museum of African American History and Culture
“The National Museum of
African American History and Culture
should be a beacon that reminds us
what we were, what challenges we
face, and what we can become.”Excerpt from the NMAAHC Mission and Vision Statement
The Museum threshold experience begins with grand porch at the South (National Mall) entry point
The MuseumWhen completed next year, the Smithsonian
Institution’s National Museum of African American
History and Culture (NMAAHC) will be the nation’s
primary home for exhibiting and celebrating
African American achievements in art, history, and
culture. Rising on the last available building site on
the National Mall, the museum will be a centerpiece
venue for ceremonies, performances, art exhibits,
and public gatherings by visitors from all
over the world.
Project FactsThe museum is one of the largest and most
complex building projects underway in the
country, in large part because of the challenges of
constructing 60% of the structure below ground
within a tidal basin.
The museum will be the most sustainable
Smithsonian museum ever built, on track to achieve
LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green
Building Council.
The bronze-colored cast aluminum corona, which
creates the museum’s distinctive form, draws on
familiar imagery from both African and American
history. The three-tiered shape is inspired by the
Yoruban Caryatid, a traditional wooden column which
features a crown or corona at its top.
The exterior panels that form the museum’s corona
evoke the ornate ironwork designs still visible in
Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA and New Orleans, LA.
The design team studied this historic iron lattice
work, in many cases created by enslaved Africans,
and created the light-permeable façade of the
museum by digitizing the traditional shapes and
transposing them into a modern interpretation
scalable to the size and shape of the museum.
Inside the building, the corona forms a perimeter
zone that surrounds the primary galleries. Abundant
daylight enters this zone through patterned openings
in the cladding and through skylights.
Yoruban Caryatid
Detail of bronze-colored lattice panels
Reaching toward the sky, the bronze clad corona expresses faith, hope and resiliency. (Construction photo, July 2015)
THE DESIGN TEAM
The Freelon Group leads the design
team as Architect of Record, and has
contractual responsibility for overseeing
the project from start to finish. The
Freelon Group manages a team of 32
consultants, including the three other
architecture firms that make
up the design team, ensuring the
design adheres to the Smithsonian’s
program and vision.
Adjaye Associates leads the building
design, working with the other three
architectural partners to develop and
refine the building to comply with the
design intent and to meet the needs of
the client and stakeholders.
Davis Brody Bond provides additional
design depth for this complex project,
drawing on their experience with
designing large museums and other
cultural projects. David Brody Bond is
responsible for developing the below-
grade areas of the Museum.
SmithGroup provides construction
documentation of the exterior envelope
and is part of the on-site construction
administration team.
At night, the corona will glow from within, presenting
stunning views of the museum from a variety of
vantage points in and around the National Mall.
The building form and materiality are intended to
express faith, hope, and resilience.
Smithsonian curators have located and stored more
than 33,000 artifacts for the exhibits. The museum
will showcase both the historic milestones of African
American history and the everyday achievements of
individuals who have contributed to shaping American
culture.
The Design Team: Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupPhil Freelon vividly recalls coming of age in
the 1960s at the height of the civil rights
movement. “I remember how nervous my whole family
was when my father went to join the March
on Washington,” he said. “And I remember how
excited I was when he came back and told me all
about hearing Dr. King’s speech.”
Today, less than a mile from where his father stood
on the National Mall to hear King’s “I Have a Dream”
speech, is the bustling site of the National Museum
of African American History and Culture. It’s a project
that Freelon—now Managing Director and Design
Director of the North Carolina practice of global
architecture and design firm Perkins+Will—proudly
oversees. He directs a four-firm design
team known as Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup,
which includes Freelon himself as lead architect,
David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates (London),
Davis Brody Bond (New York City), and
SmithGroup (Washington, DC).
The story of the design team behind the NMAAHC
began shortly after the selection of the site on the
National Mall. In 2006, the Smithsonian selected
Freelon/Bond, a collaboration between prominent
African American architects Phil Freelon and Max
Bond, to complete the museum’s Phase 1 planning
and pre-design work.
The teaming of Freelon and Bond ensured that the
programming and initial design framework—both
critical to the success of the project—were grounded
in experience and a strong cultural perspective.
Philip Freelon, lead architect of the National Museum of African
American History and Culture, describes how light will travel through
the museum (Brett Carlsen/AP Photo)
Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool,
during the 1963 March on Washington
(Photo Wikipedia Commons)
Contemplative Court
Following the successful completion of Phase I
in 2008, the Museum Council sponsored an
international design competition. Lonnie G.
Bunch III, the museum’s founding director, headed
the competition selection committee. This nine-
member group included notables in the design
community such as Linda Johnson Rice (co-chair
of the Museum Council and Chairman of Johnson
Publishing Company Inc.), Robert Kogod (member
of Smithsonian Board of Regents and president of
Charles E. Smith Management LLC), and Robert
Campbell (architecture critic, Boston Globe).
At that time, London-based architect Adjaye
Associates (led by David Adjaye) and Washington D.C.
based SmithGroup (led by Hal Davis) joined Freelon/
Bond1 (Bond later led by Peter Cook
and Rob Anderson). The resulting design team,
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup (FAB/S), was one
of six finalists selected to present design proposals
to the Smithsonian, ultimately winning the design
competition in April of 2009.
“Over the last six years since our selection as the
architects, the team has worked with the Smithsonian
Institution to develop and refine the competition
winning design concept,” said Phil Freelon. “We
have been able to apply our decades of experience
working for cultural institutions across the country.
The opportunity to work on a project of such historical
significance in our nation’s capital has certainly been
an honor. What has emerged is an even more powerful
rendition of the original idea. It is gratifying to see the
vison of the museum finally come into reality.”
The NMAAHC is slated to open to the public in the
Fall of 2016.
Freelon Bond Team:
The late Max Bond and Phil Freelon
Freelon Adjaye Bond SmithGroup Team:
(pictured above) Phil Freelon, Hal Davis, David Adjaye and Peter Cook, 2009
1 Sadly, Max Bond passed away during the competition period, a deep loss for his friends and colleagues.
SUSTAINABILITY
The Museum will be the most
sustainable national museum ever built.
Some features include:
• Climate-responsive form
• Roof garden to help with
storm water management
• Energy performance complying
with the Energy Independence and
Security Act 2007 (EISA 2007).
• Ground source heat pumps
• Thermal zones in the building based
on different spatial needs.
• Rainwater harvest for irrigation
• Maximize day lighting and
reduce energy costs
• Water efficient fixtures
• Water harvesting system for
irrigation and flushing fixtures.
• 30% energy reduction from
established baselines (ASHRAE).
• Full commissioning of the building
to measure and verify compliance.
• Construction waste management
• Use of recycled and recyclable materials
• Use of regional materials
(500 mile radius)
• Use of wood and wood based
materials that are FSC CO
• Monitoring of carbon dioxide
• Flush-out after construction
• Daylight for 50% of the operational
hours throughout the year
• 75% daylight all staff spaces
View from North towards oculus
CONSTRUCTION FACTS
Size 397,000 SF on 10 levels (5 above and 5 below ground)
Cost $385 million cost of construction
Anticipated Attendance 3 million annually
Volume of dirt excavated 350,000 cubic yards of dirt was excavated and hauled from the site
Height of Corona is 85 FT
Angle of the Corona 17.4 degree angle of the Corona matches the cap angle of the Washington Monument
Number of panels used for the Corona is 3,600
Amount of concrete used is 72,000 cubic yards
Larger artifacts being installed during construction
Construction Site Installation of bronze-colored panels of the Corona
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Michael Reilly, Reilly [email protected] 617.464.1717
Rachel Rose, [email protected] 212.251.7060
Fleur Paysour, Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African American History & [email protected] 202.633.4761