Contract - October 2016 - 18

PHOTO: MEG WALTON

EDITORIAL

Illuminating a Culture Through Architecture

As we approach Election Day, we are all well aware of this moment
in time and history: a turning point for our country. And the most
significant architectural opening in the U.S. this year has coincided
with that moment: the completion of the Smithsonian National
Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington,
D.C., just steps from the White House. Decades in the making in terms
of planning and consideration, the museum took years to build
and was completed with only months left in the final term of the first
African-American U.S. President, Barack Obama. The September 24
museum opening was a historic occasion for the country, for the
Obama presidency, for African Americans, and really for all Americans.
At its heart, this is a building about a people, and it conveys a compelling,
complex story of history and culture through which the architecture
is merely a vessel. But a truly powerful, beautiful vessel it is.
The museum is a triumph for the architects and designers
who brought the building to life. I am pleased to publish an exclusive
interview with Philip Freelon, FAIA, IIDA, who was the architect
of record overseeing the museum project (page 70). In the interview,
Freelon speaks freely about the museum and his personal thoughts
as an African American.
Freelon, who was Contract magazine's 2008 Designer of the
Year, had led his own practice, The Freelon Group, which worked with
the late J. Max Bond, Jr., FAIA, and his firm Davis Brody Bond on
predesign and programming as early as 2007 after President George
W. Bush had signed the legislation that made the museum a reality
in 2003. Bond, who was instrumental in the project's initiation, died
in February 2009, one month after President Obama was inaugurated.
In April of that year, the team of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup
won the competition to design the museum, with David Adjaye as
design architect and SmithGroupJJR, which has had a long working
relationship with the Smithsonian, focusing primarily on the structure.
The groundbreaking took place in February 2012, and Freelon led
the team effort while his firm, The Freelon Group, was acquired
by Perkins+Will in 2014. Inside, where about 10 percent of the 37,000
objects in the museum's collection will be on display at any one
time, the exhibitions were designed by Ralph Appelbaum, Contract
magazine's 2000 Designer of the Year.

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At a juncture of the National Mall near the Ellipse and the
Washington Monument, the museum rises with three expanding
tiers, a "Corona," in a form akin to the headdress on a Yoruba sculpture.
The exterior's 3,600-some bronze-colored cast aluminum panels-
with patterns that resemble those that African American craftsmen
had created in New Orleans ironwork-both lighten the appearance
of the exterior form and help the museum to appear in sharp contrast
to the many white museum and federal buildings nearby. Symbolic,
literally and figuratively, the building stands proudly in juxtaposition
to its surroundings and yet completely fits in.
With the museum as a guidepost, we move forward, rooted
in the past yet very aware of the evolving present. As Freelon told
me in person, while we stood together in the museum in September:
"When I think about Black Lives Matter, Trayvon Martin, and some
of these instances that are happening today, it just reminds me of the
1960s. It's like a flashback. And the need for this museum to illuminate
our culture so that people can appreciate and embrace it-and
to understand that these are American stories-is so necessary."
Many have come to understand the gravitas of this moment
in history and the significance of this building. Thus, the demand
to be admitted inside is exceedingly high. As of this writing, advanced
timed entry passes to the museum are booked through December,
and passes starting in January 2017 had not yet been released.
But, stay tuned, and go when you can. The importance of this museum
cannot be understated. Freelon, Adjaye, and their many colleagues
demonstrate the power of architecture and design to tell the narrative
of a people and their journey that will live on.

Sincerely,
John Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA, Hon. IIDA
Editor in Chief
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John Czarnecki's editorials

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Contract - October 2016

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