For its first 72 years as the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was a slave territory, and the five-acre tract on which the new National Museum of African American History and Culture sits once contained a slave market. So even before the ribbon was cut or the foundation laid, the building, which opens September 24, was already firmly rooted in the geography of America’s most inhumane and violent institution.
Yet instead of sadness, David Adjaye, the museum’s lead designer, saw celebration. He knew all about slavery, segregation, and lynchings, as well as more current reminders of that shameful legacy, such as the killings of Trayvon Martin and other innocent black men, women, and children. But Adjaye wanted to capture a broader view.
“I refused to see the African-American story as tragic. Instead, it is an extraordinary journey of overcoming, and shaping, what America is.”
That idea was a touchstone of the building’s design; the $540 million, 400,000-square-foot structure is literally encased in the symbols of African-American triumph. From the visually striking exterior to the carefully designed exhibit-hall environments, Adjaye and his team—in collaboration with architecture firms the Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, and SmithGroupJJR—have created what he calls “a spatial narrative,” by which he means that the building itself tells the story of the African-American experience.
“The exhibit halls resonate because America has still not decisively resolved the complex issues that make the museum so necessary in the first place.”
Located on the National Mall near the Washington Monument, Adjaye’s metallic, multi-tiered structure consists of three inverted box shapes that thrust upward. Inspired by Yoruban caryatids—traditional wooden sculptures of female figures found in East Africa that are often topped by box-shaped crowns—the design is meant to recall both the head wraps worn by many black women in the U.S. and hands raised in praise or prayer, a common symbol in African-American spiritual life. “I was fascinated with how these [shapes] were connected,” says the much-lauded architect, who has constructed prominent buildings such as the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo. “It was so uncanny to make connections between the Yoruba caryatid and modern expressions in black America. They became clues to the architecture of the building.” The lattice exterior, which is made out of 3,600 bronze-colored cast-aluminum panels, references ironwork patterns created by 19th-century enslaved workers in New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina—an homage to the skill and the unpaid labor of these craftsmen.
Making history: Tours of the museum begin underground, then rise into sunlit galleries as the subject matter grows more uplifting.[Photo: Alan Karchmer]
Established in 2003 by an act of Congress, the museum is being overseen by founding director Lonnie Bunch III, a longtime Smithsonian executive. Adjaye, whose group beat out hundreds of other firms for the commission, was named lead designer in 2009, and construction started three years later. While the building was in progress, Bunch and his team—in consultation with historians and luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey and Colin Powell—amassed around 34,000 artifacts, mostly from private collectors. Ideally, the curators want to create dialogue and “complicate questions of race, agency, and history,” says deputy director Kinshasha Holman Conwill. “The hope is that people will leave here transformed and wanting to learn more.”
That seems likely. During a pre-opening tour in June, when the interior was still essentially a construction site, the space exuded a solemn dignity. Workers wearing hard hats were guiding cloth-covered display items into various exhibition spaces, and the partially completed rooms were full of shipping crates and dangling wires. But things were far enough along to offer a sense of what the experience will be like. The overarching idea is that a visitor’s journey through the museum mirrors the rise of African-American people’s position in society. Exhibits begin three levels underground, where low ceilings and a lack of natural light create a somewhat claustrophobic effect. That heightens the emotional impact of galleries such as Slavery & Freedom, which displays a 16.5-foot cotton tower, artifacts from a wrecked slave ship, and two log cabins, including one that housed enslaved people on Edisto Island, South Carolina. As you move upward, rooms feature a lace shawl owned by Harriet Tubman, Emmett Till’s coffin, a plane flown by Tuskegee Airmen, and the original Soul Train sign. The exhibit halls are much more than just expertly curated trips through time: They resonate because America has still not decisively resolved the complex issues that make the museum so necessary in the first place.
One of the most powerful moments comes about halfway through, when museumgoers arrive at a room called the Contemplative Court. This is the point where underground galleries give way to aboveground halls with high ceilings and picture windows, where the museum focuses on more-optimistic topics such as sports, music, visual arts, hair, and style. The Contemplative Court’s sunlit stone benches and soothing water feature offer a space “to reframe what you experienced and contextualize it,” says Adjaye, who hopes visitors will sit for a few minutes and reflect on the nation-shaping hardships they’ve just seen.
“Then you move on up into the light.”
Click here for the 2016 Innovation by Design Awards finalists and winners. A version of this article appeared in the October 2016 issue of Fast Company magazine.
Director and the Chief Operating Officer (COO), IBM Southern Africa
Ziaad Suleman is a Director and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for IBM Southern
Africa. He joined the company 11 years ago and has been integral to the growth and development of the IBM business in the region.
In his role as COO, Ziaad is responsible for the overall business operations of the company. His main focus areas include strategy, transformation, operations; special projects and investments.
He also serves on the IBM South Africa Board of Directors, EXCO, as well as important
governing councils such the Social & Ethics Committee and the Disciplinary Board.
Prior to his role as COO, Ziaad was the head lawyer for IBM in Sub-Saharan Africa — a
territory which is challenging, both in geography and complexity.
Ziaad represents South Africa as the SA Chair of 4IR on BRICS. He is a member of the ICT 4IR Public Private Growth Initiative (PPGI), is a Member of the FNB Islamic Advisory Council, and is part of the Business Advisory Group to the president, amongst other roles.
Stafford Masie
WeWork South Africa
Celebrity innovator and head of WeWork in South Africa, Stafford Masie, will be the keynote speaker of Fast Company’s inaugural Most Innovative Companies conference and awards ceremony taking place on 5 March 2020 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Masie is no stranger to the South African innovation community. He spent 7 years in the US where he played a significant role in the global open source software arena and was responsible for international partnerships and corporate technology strategy for a number of international territories including Latin America, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Europe.
He returned to South Africa in 2004 as the country manager for Novell and in 2007, developed and launched Google’s initial local presence in South Africa. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed as Google’s regional Africa director and together with his team, established the local office and launched the Google business ecosystem. He was also responsible for the launch of google.co.za, as well as localised versions of Google AdWords, YouTube, Google Maps Street View, and more.
After a successful career at Google, he launched his own company called Thumbzup before developing mobile payment app, Payment Pebble which allows merchants and ordinary people to make easy card payments online.
Now, he heads up WeWork South Africa with a wealth of experience in the tech and innovation space under his belt.
Phathizwe Malinga
Managing Director, SqwidNet
As the Managing Director of SqwidNet, Phathizwe Malinga is responsible for building an IoT connectivity business in South Africa in partnership with International IoT giant SIGFOX.
In addition to his Managing Director role, he will continue overlooking the solutions division for SqwidNet, a fully owned subsidiary of Dark Fibre Africa. Malinga has made a natural transition into the role of leading SqwidNet because of the various leadership roles he has fulfilled over the years.
He is no stranger to the role of a strategist, as he consulted with both Max Healthcare and Life Healthcare Group in his previous position with the organisation. He has been involved in the information technology and telecommunication industry for over two decades, having held senior management level positions.
Before joining SqwidNet, Malinga was the Head of Application Strategy at Life Healthcare Group, where he was in charge of the IT Application strategy and Software Development for the group. Phathizwe completed his Executive MBA from the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town. He continues to guest lecture with the university and he sits on the board of Bizmod Consulting. Malinga is a Singularity University Faculty Candidate.
Jayshree Naidoo
YIEDI
Known for her position as a thought leader on innovation and entrepreneurship, Jayshree Naidoo is the CEO of YIEDI, a founding member and ex-chairperson of the Southern African Innovation Network and a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation for South Africa (NACI).
Naidoo was previously a recipient of Fast Company South Africa’s Most Creative People in Business 2018 for “Putting Entrepreneurs First” and has held several leadership roles at large South African corporates, including Standard Bank, Discovery, Absa, Internet Solutions and Da Vinci.
Currently, Naidoo delivers the IBM Techscale, PROPreneurX anf the YIEDI Business in a Box programme that helps grow, develop and provide access to market linkages for entrepreneurs. In 2019, Naidoo was identified as one of South Africa’s Inspiring 50 winners. Inspiring 50 is a global initiative supported by the governments of the Netherlands and South Africa that recognizes the top 50 women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Rory Moore
Accenture
An innovation and emerging technology expert with years of experience growing and leading multi-disciplinary teams, Rory Moore aims to bring new ideas and technologies to life.
He is the lead for Africa and Asia Pacific of 10 Liquid Studios, the rapid application development teams of Accenture that works on projects in the experimental and emerging technologies space.
With his keen focus on conceptual development and proof of value through high-fidelity prototypes around artificial intelligence, virtual reality and blockchain, his role as adjunct faculty at top business schools across the country is no reach. Moore is also an inventor and patent holder of a collaborative innovation platform and has an MBA in innovation from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.
Reshaad Sha
Liquid Telecom
Reshaad Sha is the CEO of Liquid Telecom South Africa, a pan-African connectivity and digital service provider that offers services to telecom operators, governments and businesses across the African continent.
Before joining Liquid Telecom, Sha was the founder and CEO of SqwidNet, where he led the team entrusted to build an IoT connectivity business in South Africa in partnership with the world’s largest IoT operator, Sigfox.
Concurrently, Sha served as the chief strategy officer at DFA, where he led the company’s strategy to transform the business from infrastructure to telecommunications. In addition to holding various director-level positions in the telecommunications industry at LogicaCMG, Protek, Lifetree and Cisco, Sha has had the opportunity to work closely with many leading telecommunications operators in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, Turkey and South-East Asia.
Sha holds a national diploma in information technology from the Durban university of Technology and Technikon South Africa, an executive MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and is a recent advanced management graduate of Harvard Business School.