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