Sited at the port of arrival for nearly half of all enslaved Africans brought to North America, the design serves and celebrates the museum’s mission by granting primacy to the seascape on which it fronts, the landscapes that frame it, and the memorial for which it provides shelter.
The museum is housed in a one-story building volume measuring 84 feet wide, 426 feet long, and 24 feet high, raised 13 feet above the ground on a double row of cylindrical columns. The underside of the museum shelters a large open space that is the heart of the site’s collective memory. On the eastern section of this outdoor space, oriented to the harbor and ocean beyond, a shallow reflecting pool signifies the edge of Gadsden’s Wharf as it was at the beginning of the nineteenth century, at the peak of the slave trade.
The materials reflect a careful contextual response to a highly charged historical site. On its north and south sides, the building is clad in a warm brick, while the east and west ends are enclosed in clear glass shaded by angled wooden louvers. The structure’s supporting columns are clad in an oystershell tabby, a material also used as paving in portions of the ground plane.
SITE
On the site of the former Gadsden’s Wharf on the Cooper River, overlooking Charleston Harbor
COMPONENTS
41,800 ft2 / 3,900 m2 gross area; exhibit area, administrative offices, museum shop
CLIENT
International African American Museum
PCF&P SERVICES
Architecture; exterior envelope; interior design of public spaces
SUSTAINABILITY
Designed for LEED certification
AWARDS
Project of the Year
Architect's Newspaper, 2023
Design Award
American Institute of Architects, New York City Chapter, 2024
Top-Five Project Worldwide, Museums
Architizer A+ Awards, 2024
Design Award
Society of American Registered Architects, 2024
Design Award of Excellence
Society of American Registered Architects, New York Council, 2024
Best of Design Award, Cultural Projects
Architect's Newspaper, 2023
Best of Design Award, Landscape
Architecture Architect's Newspaper, 2023
Apollo Award
Nominee Apollo Magazine, 2023
Engineering Excellence Awards: National Recognition Award
American Council of Engineering Companies, 2024
Team:
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York
Design Architect (Architecture; exterior envelope; interior design of Public Spaces)
- Henry N. Cobb, Lead Designer
- Matteo Milani, Lead Designer
- Hitoshi Maehara, Senior Design Architect
Moody Nolan
Executive Architect; FF&E; Signage
- Curt Moody, Partner in Charge
- Jonathan Moody, Project Executive
- Bob Larrimer, Project Manager
- Julie Cook, Senior Project Architect
Hood Design Studio, Oakland, California
Landscape Design
- Walter Hood, Creative Director
- Paul Peters, Design Principal
Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA), New York
Institutional Planning, Museum Exhibition Conceptual Design, Interpretive Planning
- Ralph Appelbaum, Principal
- Aki Carpenter, Vice President and Chief Creative Officer
Guy Nordenson and Associates, New York
Structural Engineering
Arup, USA
M/E/P/FP Engineering; Acoustic Consulting; Communications Infrastructure; Security Consulting; Lighting Design (Base Building, Exterior, Landscape)
SeamonWhiteside, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Landscape Architect of Record
Venue Consulting, St. Petersburg, Florida
Construction Cost Consulting
Forsberg Engineering, Charleston, South Carolina
Civil Engineering; Survey
S&ME, Charleston, South Carolina
Geotechnical & Environmental Engineering
Bihl Engineering, Charleston, South Carolina
Traffic Engineering
CCI, New York
Code Consulting
Aqua Design International, Tucson, AZ
Water Feature M/E/P
Whole Building Systems, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Commissioning
Collaborating exhibition design team
Carolynne Harris Consulting, Denver, Colorado
Museum Planning and Implementation
Technical Artistry, New York
Lighting Design (Exhibit Spaces)
Cortina Productions, McLean, Virginia
Multimedia Design and Production
Construction team
Turner, Charlotte, North Carolina
Construction Manager
Brownstone, Charleston, South Carolina
Construction Management
Solomon Group, New Orleans, Louisiana
Exhibit Fabrication
Zone Display Cases, Quebec City
Display Case Fabrication
Johnson Controls, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
AV System Integration
