A culminating chapter in a century-long push to create a black-history museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., began April 14, when National Museum of African American History and Culture (AAHC) director Lonnie Bunch announced that the team Freelon Adjaye Bond and SmithGroup had been selected to design the museum’s new building at the base of the Washington Monument.
April 2009 The student firmly raised his hand at the luncheon, catching my attention over the turkey sandwiches and cold drinks. We were there to talk, after all. Most of the questions thus far had been softball—related to publishing or favorite architects and their work, or to travel, but not to pushing the boundaries. He appeared eager and young. Then he spoke: “Can you tell me,” he asked, “why media like Architectural Record have continued to promote icons, when we are interested in a different kind of architecture today?” All eyes opened up around the long table, and heads seemed