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Ornamental screen as seen from within the museum.

pavilion pops out from the glass curtain wall at ground level to of the museum. The height of the building above ground level was
protect visitors from any precipitation falling through that gap. legally capped, so the gallery spaces and other functions that would
A shallow pool in the plaza beneath the canopy symbolizes the have been in the podium had nowhere to go but underground.
ocean that captive Africans traversed on their way to enslavement Accommodating all that space required general excavation to a
in America. depth of 70 feet—lower at some points—on a site where the natural
The interior of the entry level is bright and airy, thanks to its water table was quite high. That posed not only a technical challenge—
perimeter glass curtain wall and the four concentrated structural engineering and building a bathtub-like structure to keep the
and service cores that keep most of the floor area free. The main water out—but also an aesthetic one. What kind of experience
gathering space is a bit reminiscent of an airport terminal, a might visitors have in a museum that was 60% underground?
comparison that seems apt when the museum is swarming with The architectural team and exhibition designers with Ralph
visitors, as has been the case virtually every day since it opened. Appelbaum Associates, working in close cooperation with the
The unencumbered space proves its efficacy as families and tour Smithsonian’s curators and project managers, succeeded in turning
groups sort themselves out there before embarking on the choreo- this problem to advantage by devising a circulation strategy that
graphed journey through the museum’s imposing sequence of reinforces the museum’s fundamental narratives. Visitors begin by
exhibition galleries. taking an elevator to the lowest level. As they go down, they look
The elimination of the large podium from the original design through windows in the elevator cab toward descending numbers—
proposal had profound implications for the internal organization representing years—painted on the surrounding wall, suggesting

24 A DREAM DEFERRED NO MORE