DAVID ADJAYE _ MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

It stands out for being the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture: Long overdue The National Museum of African American History and Culture(NMAAHC) has now opened its doors to the public with an impressive inaugural event.

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Following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans the museum was finally established by Act of Congress in 2003. To date it has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become charter members of the institution. With its opening on 24 September September 24 the NMAAHC has become the nineteenth and most recent museum of the Smithsonian museums family.

The NMAAHC is undoubtedly one the most significant new museums in Washington DC and has already become a landmark building as well as an icon of David Adjaye’s practice having won the competition to design the museum in 2009 as part of a team with American architects The Freelon Group and Davis Brody Bond.

A stack of three volumes forms the building’s upper portion, covered in perforated bronze plates. Designed to shade the glazed facades behind, the filigree cladding is patterned to reference the history of African American craftsmanship. The glass is left unobstructed around the base of the building and portions of the bronze skin are also cut out near the top to provides views out across the US capital. Strikingly, more than half of the museum however is located below ground, stretching between Constitution Avenue and Madison Drive – close to the Washington Monument.

The museum deliberately highlights its nature as a public institution that is open to all, welcoming everybody to participate, collaborate, and learn more about African American history and culture. In the words of Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the NMAAHC, “there are few things as powerful and as important as a people, as a nation that is steeped in its history.”

NMAAHC prides itself to stand for four main objectives: Providing opportunity for those who are interested in African American culture to explore and revel in this history through interactive exhibitions; Helping all Americans see how their stories, their histories, and their cultures are shaped and informed by global influences; Exploring what it means to be an American and share how American values like resiliency, optimism, and spirituality are reflected in African American history and culture; Serving as a place of collaboration that reaches beyond Washington to engage new audiences and to collaborate with the myriad of museums and educational institutions that have explored and preserved this important history well before this museum was created.