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The Washington Business Journal broke the news this morning that Freelon Adjaye Bond submitted the winning design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The winning design features two-tiered trapezoidal plinths featuring stone, shimmering bronze, and suspended timber. Somber and geometric from the exterior, the interior offers views through the bronze "corona" both upward into the museum collection and outward into the city. Museum director Lonnie Bunch and designers Philip Freelon and David Adjaye gave a press conference today in which they described the design in detail.
The design group of Freelon Adjaye Bond was unique among the finalists as one whose portfolio included significant African American&ndash themed projects. Their work in that area is quite deep. Philip Freelon of the Freelon Group can claim the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Culture, the Atlanta Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture. J. Max Bond, Jr., of Davis Brody Bond worked to design the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change, the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Both have done numerous architectural projects for historically black colleges and universities, including Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State, and North Carolina Central University. Sadly, Bond, Jr., died in February.
Photo used with permission under a Creative Commons license with Flickr user afagen
David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates, a black British designer who calls the commission the "dream of his career," adds to the team experience with larger, standalone projects, like the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver.
The selection committee was quite confident in its decision, voting unanimously for the team. The Freelon Adjaye Bond designers are not the most prominent of those architects who were selected as finalists -- that distinction belongs to Foster & Partners or Moshe Safdie and Associates. Neither are the winning designers the local sons. The D.C.&ndash based firm Devrouax + Purnell has found loyal admirers and detractors alike with projections ranging from Nationals Park to the African American Civil War Memorial to the forthcoming Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
The selection signals that the Smithsonian hopes to get a building whose design is compelled by its content. In that regard, the museum planners will not be disappointed. As well regarded African American architects whose careers include so many black historical and cultural institutions, Freelon and Bond have the experience, personally and professionally, for the project. Architecture nerds may be disappointed to see that the selection does not represent the boldest architectural vision. (Safdie fans will have to wait for the United States Institute for Peace, whenever that comes together.)
But to hear Bond and Adjaye discuss the "motif of praise" and the environmental performance inherent to the design during the Smithsonians press conference, it sounds as though subtlety will be an asset of the final structure-- if the concept comes off as planned. Whether the final structure is one that resembles the design is a whole different question. Is it something you can live with on the National Mall? Or did you prefer one of the others?
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LEED certification?
LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
LEED: Official & LEED: Wikipedia
I know this may sound like crazy talk, but how about we fix all the major structural issues with the current Smithsonian buildings before start planning/building another one that will inevitably become neglected.
Great story, Kriston. As a big fan of Dwell magazine, I just wanted to thank you for bringing more local architecture and design projects onto the pages of DCist. If you all ever need some help with future articles about design, tech, and the surrounding culture I'd work for free to get the practice writing, researching, taking photos, etc.
I'm excited to get to visit the museum when it's completed and feel the impact of both the exhibits and the structure.
and @tootrueblueman, all the designs were required to be LEED-certified green buildings according to the American Institute of Architects (http://blog.aia.org/aiarchitect/2009/02/six_teams_vie_to_design_the_na.html), and News8 confirms that the Freelon design will indeed be the "first green, LEED-certified building on the National Mall."
Looks like the control tower at Dulles. I hope at least this means that they are taking the opposite approach from the Native American museum, which has a cool building, but is a lousy museum)
I thought the same thing about the control tower.
Yeah, but it's a control tower with a green roof. Big difference. To the plants.
Sorry, I meant the American Indian Museum, of course.
I'm really glad this one won, Adjaye's a great designer. Also a good article, although I'd have to question the comment about Safdie's representing the boldest vision. As an architecture nerd, I felt his was one of the weakest. Sure it was "bold", but so is the native american museum, but that project is pure garbage. Safdie, along with most of the other schemes, seem to have a few "bold" (almost cartoonishly bold) moments, but failed to grab my attention on a wholistic level. I wouldnt call Adjaye's safe by any means. Its subtle, yet it seems to be worked out spactially like most of his buildings, and handles its material palette in a very interesting way. The only disappointment might be in the fact that the Diller + Scafidio one didnt win.
It's not the one Phillip Kennicott liked, so it must be the right choice.
It looks like a 1970's-era shopping mall. This atrocity doesn't belong anywhere near the National Mall.
And Philip Kennicott is a joke of an architecture critic. Look up his credentials as an architectural expert and you won't find anything.
I think you forgot to post a link to what Matthew Yglesias thinks about this design.
I think the Museum of the American Indian is awesome. The architecture is beautiful and I think the way they divided up the space amongst the tribes and let the tribes decide how to use their allotment was a great idea. Just seeing what subjects each tribe chose to exhibit is interesting. And the food court is amazing.
This one, ugh. It looks like a horrible unimaginative box. Or rather, two boxes jammed together. It expresses nothing about the subject matter. It doesn't respond to its site or surroundings at all. I'm not even sure why we are building this museum in the first place but if we are going to have it I wish it was something we could all be proud of.
this looks something you'd serve sushi on. i hope it's really shiny and sparkly, otherwise the facade is going to look tacky (and a little foreboding to be honest).
i like the american indian museum as a building, in and of itself. however, it really bothers me how they gloss over the atrocities that occurred- kind of worthless as a museum. they should tell it like it is or don't tell it at all. but the building is an absolute gem and makes me feel good every time i see it.
all my gripes with this sushi tray can be alleviated by popping a swimming pool on that roof. but having honest thought-provoking exhibits of substance and clarity would work, too. marinate on that.
I agree about the swimming pool. However, to be an authentic homage to summers past, swimmers should use picnic tables instead of diving boards. And would it kill them to put a few bbq pits out there? The African-American contribution to music has been thoroughly documented elsewhere, but what about barbecue? Who grilled all those whole hogs over open pits for the man in the big house? What was one of the few businesses ex-slaves could operate without white intereference? What was one of the few places whites and blacks were allowed to mingle? Barbecue is one of the great contributions to the American Experience. Its history must be honored. But leave it to the White Man to turn something honorable and noble into burnt, salmonella-filled burgers and disease-ridden hotdogs. F**k that high-temp grilling, $h!t. Barbecue means low-and-slow. Go hardwood charcoal and soaked applewood or GTFO!
cyncecdoche-TOTALLY agree on American Indian museum. Building is awesome, museum sucks. Do we really need a display case for every single tribe? In trying so hard not to offend anyone, they stripped away any meaningful educational value and miss "the big picture" story. Also, by letting the tribes pick their own stuff to display it becomes more of a PR effort-devoid of any third party historical analysis (kind of like the media masturbatory experience that is the Newseum). All those cases remind me of tacky tourist brochures.
Sections about actual history are few and far between. I want learn about the atrocities, the attacks on indians, Indian attacks on Europeans, How the system of tribe alliances worked, inter-tribe wars, common themes of religious beliefs, appeasement vs. war with the white man, influence on current American culture, etc.
BTW-I stopped using the word "Native American" several years ago after visiting the Laguna reservation and one of the council members said they considered it a term "made up by guilty white people. We call ourselves Indians, as our fathers did, as our grandfathers did, and as our great grandfathers did."
"Just a little something to break the monotony
Of all that hard-core dance that has gotten to be
a little bit out of control; it's cool to dance
but what about a groove that soothes to move romance"
I like it. I think when you see it from ground level it will look really cool. The colors in the model make it look very bland but I think it will fit in and look pretty cool.
Ad if you look at the other work the designer firm has done (use links in the article) they are spectacular. Really really modern and cool. Something DC lacks badly.
I forget, where will this museum be located?