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City of Charleston

International African American Museum

Details
Charleston, SC
Location
41,800 SF
Size
2023
Completion
Executive Architect
Moody Nolan
Design Architect
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Landscape Designer
Hood Design Studio
Exhibit Designer
Ralph Applebaum Associates
Collaborators
Awards
Archello Awards Longlist
Museum Building of the Year
The Architect's Newspaper
Project of the Year
SARA NY
Design Award of Excellence
2023

The architectural form centers the untold stories of enslaved African Americans—serving as a historical touchstone for generations to come.

 

After more than 20 years of planning, The IAAM is sited at Gadsden’s Wharf overlooking Charleston Harbor, the point of disembarkation for nearly half the Africans enslaved and shipped to the United States during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Designed For Remembrance

The design team envisioned the entry sequence as both a destination and transitional space between the landscape and exhibition. Raised 13 feet above the ground on a double row of concrete columns, the single story museum makes way for a plaza of remembrance beneath the floating structure.

The museum and its grounds serve as an educational site, a groundbreaking resource for the study and advancement of African American genealogy, and a memorial honoring the slaves and their descendants who passed through the very same space.

The reflecting pool represents the souls lost in the passage over the Atlantic Ocean.

A Place Where History Unfolds

Movement through the museum represents the journey from the origins of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean and to and through America, tracing the paths and patterns that enslaved Africans, and ultimately African Americans, made for themselves.

The west side features a chronological, interactive gallery called American Journeys, juxtaposed with media related to the legacies of slavery and current movements around racial equality and social justice. The center for genealogy is a place where visitors can get guided help tracking their family genealogy. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all African Americans can trace at least one ancestor to the area.

Furniture With a Story

Conceptualized by African American designers at Moody Nolan, a collection of custom benches represents their ancestral journey—from enslavement to reclaiming cultural traditions—using materiality and shape to tell an evocative story. The benches are functional art, placed throughout the space to support moments of pause and reflection.

Each bench is a piece of functional art, able to stand alone in a gallery or as an entire collection.

The finished design is restrained, inspired by the boats that carried people across the ocean. The rectangular box looks out over the water, hovering on pillars above the ground to honor the now-buried history of the wharf.

Related Content
Media
Fast Company: International African American Museum
Media
The New York Times: Telling the Whole Truth of African American History
Media
The Today Show: Take a Look Inside the International African American Museum
Media
NPR's All Things Considered Features the International African American Museum
Media
Design Boom: International African American Museum Opens
Media
National Geographic: Charleston’s newest museum reckons with the city’s role in the slave trade
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