AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM PROPOSAL | AC ARCHITECTS

      Highway 290 provides ease of access to Prairie View A&M campus but the lack of landmark reduces the visibility of the main entrance to the campus. The design concept for Texas African American History Museum is to provide an iconic gateway to the campus. Visibility from freeway becomes an important consideration to the design of the museum as a landmark can help navigate commuters into the campus. Through stacking of building programs, a vertical structure is created to provide landmark at the campus main entrance. The rotation of each floor reflects the freedom of expression. The increase of building area from ground floor to fourth floor symbolized the time of oppression during slavery to the time when freedom is won through emancipation movements. Perforated metal with pattern created from symbol of freedom and emancipation allows different intensity of daylight into each spaces. The large overhang formed by the top floor provides shade from intense Texas sun. The solid structure and the wire frame structure each represents the past and present state of African American. The interdependence of two structures symbolizes the importance of history and present in moving forward to the future.

AC ARCHITECTS