While it was known that Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) would open in the fall, it wasn’t until today that we knew when. The corona-inspired museum, designed by the team of Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupJJR, has an opening date: Sept. 24, 2016, the Smithsonian Institution announced today. NMAAHC broke ground in 2012, and held its debut event outside the under-construction building in November.
“We’re driving toward a public opening date of fall of 2016, and we’re feeling good about that,” Judson McIntire, AIA, the Smithsonian’s project executive, said to ARCHITECT last year. “And we of course want President Obama to cut the ribbon.”
President Obama is scheduled to do the honors at NMAAHC’s dedication ceremony. In addition to a three-day opening festival, the museum’s first 11 exhibitions will open concurrently with the structure in September.
“In a few short months visitors will walk through the doors of the museum and see that it is a place for all people,” said Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s founding director, in a Smithsonian press release. “We are prepared to offer exhibitions and programs to unite and capture the attention of millions of people worldwide.”
Read ARCHITECT’s past coverage of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
