FREELON ADJAYE BOND/SMITHGROUP TO DESIGN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM
An architecture team led by Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup was selected to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture, reports the Washington Post’s Jacqueline Trescott.
The museum’s founding director, Lonnie G. Bunch III, praised the decision, saying, “Their vision and spirit of collaboration moved all members of the design competition jury. I am confident that they will give us a building that will be an important addition to the National Mall and to the architecture of the city.”
David Adjaye, one of the architects, said the design followed themes of “celebration and praise. We are celebrating an incredible journey and looking to the future.”
The Freelon Group is based in Durham, North Carolina, and is designing the new Washington, DC, public library in Anacostia. It also designed the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore and the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. Adjaye, the architect of the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, and Davis, Brody, and Bond are also designing local libraries.
