International African American Museum

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 AREA 41,800 sf gross floor area DIMENSIONS main building volume: length: 426’, width: 83’-8”, height: 24’; ground level columns (18): 13’ tall 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 Honor Award American Society of Landscape Architects, 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 Awards Longlist, Cultural Projects; Awards Longlist, Landscape and Urban Design Dezeen Awards, 2024 Engineering Excellence Awards: National Recognition Award American Council of Engineering Companies, 2024 Apollo Award Nominee Apollo Magazine, 2023