Philip Freelon (LF ’90) broke ground on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture last week in Washington DC. Quoted in the Washington Post, Freelon says, ““I enjoy providing design excellence for people to encounter, in places like libraries and bus stations,” designing almost exclusively in the public sphere for “everyday people.”
The 313,000 sq ft. Museum sits on a five-acre site adjacent to the Washington Monument. The Freelon Group collaborated with architects David Adjaye and the late Max Bond for the April 2009 international design competition. Inspired by the capstone of the nearby obelisk, the museum’s form is a crown, expressing faith, hope and resiliency. As the team develops its schematic design, they are guided by tenets of sustainability with the aim that the NMAAHC will demonstrate best practices in environmental design.
An exhibition of the Freelon Group’s work is on display in the Wolk Gallery at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA through April 13, 2012.