flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Rising above adversity: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Building Team Awards

Rising above adversity: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Gold Award: The Smithsonian Institution’s newest museum is a story of historical and construction resolve.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | June 7, 2017

Its striking cast-aluminum, 3,600-panel façade provides transparency into the museum’s above- ground interior space. Courtesy Brad Feinknopf.

This much-ballyhooed project, which sits on the last available lot within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was first conceived 100 years ago. Its 56-month realization involved three GCs, four architects, more than 30 consultants, 200 subcontractors, and 5,000 craft workers.

At almost every turn, the Building Team faced obstacles, not the least being the District of Columbia’s high water table. Three-fifths of the museum is below grade, and its construction entailed a 70-foot-deep excavation of 350,000 cubic yards of dirt. The Building Team developed a support-of-excavation system that could withstand water pressure of 37,000 pounds per sf.

To meet the client’s request that all ground-floor and above-grade spaces be column free, the Building Team used four steel/cement structural cores to support the building’s superstructure and façade. 

 

Its below-ground attractions include a Contemplative Court, illuminated by natural light coming through an oculus onto a waterpool. Courtesy Brad Feinknop.

 

The museum, whose silhouette is designed to resemble a West African crown, is distinguished by “The Corona,” a striking curtain wall consisting of 3,600 panels, modeeld after ironwork in the American South. The original cast-bronze design was deemed too expensive, so the Building Team chose cast-aluminum panels that reduced the cost by $20 million. It also experimented with 20 colors and finishes to achieve the façade’s bronze tint.

Natural light streams through a 20-foot-diameter oculus into an underground Contemplative Court. Outside, a 200-foot-long porch, supported by two 32-ton columns, cantilevers 40 feet over a water feature.

The museum houses 36,000-plus artifacts and was literally built around two of them—an 80-foot-long Pullman railway car, and a guard tower from Louisiana’s notorious Angola Prison—that two 550-ton cranes lowered into place early in construction.

 

Building Team – Submitting firm, contractor: Clark Construction Group; Owner: The Smithsonian Institution; Architects: Adjaye Associates, Davis Brody Bond, SmithGroupJJR, The Freelon Group; Interior architects: Perkins+Will, Davis Brody Bond (below grade); Exhibit designer: Ralph Appelbaum Associates Structural engineers:   Robert Silman Associates (below grade), Guy Nordenson and Associates (above grade); MEP engineer: WSP USA; General contractor: Joint venture of Clark Construction, Smoot Construction, and H.J. Russell & Company' Construction manager: McKissack & McKissack; Landscape architect: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol

General Information – Size 409,000 sf Cost $413 million Construction time January 2012 to September 2016 Delivery method Design-bid-build

 

Return to the 2017 Building Team Awards landing page

Related Stories

Building Team Awards | May 22, 2018

LA's game changer: Wilshire Grand Center

Silver Award: This billion-dollar mixed-use tower will alter the Los Angeles skyline in more ways.

Building Team Awards | May 21, 2018

Campus builder: Everett University Center at Washington State University

Silver Award: WSU kicks off its new branch campus with a high-tech innovation center designed to engage students, businesses, and the community.

Building Team Awards | May 21, 2018

Promise fulfilled: Park West, Texas A&M University

Silver Award: A P3-driven team completes this mega off-campus student housing complex ahead of its fast-track schedule.

Building Team Awards | May 18, 2018

Prognosis: Positive: Rutgers University-Camden Nursing and Science Building

Gold Award: Can a new nursing school breathe life into America’s third-poorest city?

Building Team Awards | May 17, 2018

Patient priorities: Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center

Gold Award: Cleveland Clinic’s new cancer center is a transparent, collaborative hub for improved patient experiences and enhanced communication with caregivers.

Building Team Awards | May 16, 2018

Game, set, match: United States Tennis Association National Campus

Gold Award: With 100 courts and more than 260,000 sf of vertical construction, the USTA National Campus is a sanctuary for tennis enthusiasts.

Building Team Awards | May 15, 2018

High court, big impact: San Diego Central Courthouse

Gold Award: San Diego’s high-rise courthouse increases access to justice for citizens by consolidating 71 court departments.

Building Team Awards | May 14, 2018

Sweat equity marks landscaping effort

The design was grounded in therapeutic landscape and environmental psychology theory.

Building Team Awards | May 14, 2018

Rethinking prison design: Iowa Correctional Institution for Women

Platinum Award: Iowa's new women's correctional institution offers a revolutionary model for rehabilitating female inmates.

Building Team Awards | May 14, 2018

Dream delivered: McCormick Square Marriott Marquis and Wintrust Arena

Platinum Award: A daring hotel and sports development in Chicago’s South Loop aims to invigorate the city’s convention business.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021