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The winners of Perkins & Will's 2021 Phil Freelon Design Competition have been announced

2021-06-09T14:39:00-04:00

Architects and designers from multiple Perkins&Will studios worldwide have developed design solutions to address how urban spaces, workplaces, and/or daily life may change in post-COVID London. As part of the firm’s annual Phil Freelon Design Competition, these proposals explore ways parts of London can be transformed into healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive places.

Previously on Archinect: Winners of the 2020 Philip Freelon Design Competition have been announced

Now in its 18th year, Perkins&Will’s annual internal design competition calls on staff to collaborate and engage in creating innovative design solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. The competition was launched in 2004 as the Design Leadership Council Design Competition and renamed in 2019 to honor the eponymous and late architect and Perkins&Will design director who championed design for humanity.

Previously on Archinect: Architect Phil Freelon Has Passed Away

For this year’s competition, design team...

Winners of the 2020 Philip Freelon Design Competition have been announced

2020-08-25T14:40:00-04:00

Formerly known as the Design Leadership Council (DLC) Design Competition, the annual Perkins and Will competition was renamed to honor the late architect Philip Freelon in 2019. According to Design Leadership Council Director Casey Jones, "For 17 years, teams around the world have invested enormous amounts of passion and creative thought into our annual design competition. It’s one of the hallmarks of our firm’s design culture, which is rooted in purpose, curiosity, research, and innovation. "

The 2020 competition brief focused on affordable housing and design initiatives addressing this ongoing issue. This year, 68 design teams across all Perkins and Will firms participated in the competition.

Below are the winning projects and project descriptions provided by competition coordinators.

PRIZE WINNERS

First Prize: Arroyo by Vangel Kukov and Hala EL Khorazaty

IImage courtesy of Vangel Kukov and Hala EL Khorazaty

Image courtesy of Vangel Kukov and Hala EL Khorazaty.

Infused with princi...

A new children's book tells Phil Freelon's story

2020-01-21T13:01:00-05:00

Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon is a new children's book published by Lee & Low Books that highlights the life and work of the late architect Phil Freelon.

Written by Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Laura Freeman, the 40-page picture book "celebrates a contemporary black STEAM role model, a man whose quiet work enabled the creation of an iconic building reflecting America's past and future," according to the publisher's website, by offering insights into Freelon's youth and personal and professional journeys through life.

A spread from inside the book depicting the design for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History with David Adjaye and Phil Freelon shown on the left. Image courtesy of Lee & Low Books.

The book highlights Freelon's upbringing in an arts-saturated Philadelphia home as the son of a socially conscious businessman who attended the 1963 March on Washington and chronicles Freelon's unexpected path toward architecture. In a...

National Organization of Minority Architects launches Phil Freelon Professional Design Award program

2019-08-29T19:00:00-04:00

The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) has renamed its annual design awards program in honor of the late architect Phil Freelon.

Freelon passed away on July 9th, 2019 after being diagnosed with ALS in 2016.

A statement announcing the group's decision to rename the award program in honor of Freelon explains: "NOMA is renaming the decades-old prestigious design awards in honor of Phil Freelon’s notable career, recognizing him as one of the most influential African American architects of our time."

Freelon was a lifelong NOMA member and advocated widely for many of the principles the organization embodies, including its emphasis on empowering and uplifting young, diverse architects within the field. Throughout his career, Freelon led the architectural teams behind a collection of significant projects that celebrate the African American experience, including the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta; the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco;...

Architect Phil Freelon Has Passed Away

2019-07-09T15:04:00-04:00

Acclaimed North Carolina-based architect Phil Freelon has passed away.

Freelon, 66, had been diagnosed with ALS in March 2016, just prior to the debut of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, a signature project he helped design in partnership with Adjaye Associates, Davis Brody Bond, SmithGroupJJR, and Perkins + Will.

A Facebook post from the NorthStar Church of the Arts in North Carolina confirmed Freelon's passing this morning.

Freelon was a graduate of North Carolina State University's College of Design, where he earned a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture; He earned his Master of Architecture degree from MIT.

He founded The Freelon Group in 1990, a practice that took on many culturally and architecturally significant projects, including the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Emancipation Park in Houston, and the MoTown Museum in Memphis. The Freelon Group was acquired by Perkins + Will in 201...

The first 'Phil Freelon Fellow' has been named at Harvard GSD

2017-11-27T20:33:00-05:00

Last year, Harvard's GSD announced the establishment of the Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund designed to "provide expanded academic opportunities to African American and other under-represented architecture and design students at the GSD." Created in partnership with Perkins+Will, where Phil Freelon serves as the Managing and Design Director of their North Carolina practice, the fellowship aimed at increasing diversity in the field has selected their very first recipient, Aria Griffin MArch ’21.

Griffin, who hails from Los Angeles, began her graduate studies in architecture at the GSD this year, previously earning a BS Arch from the Sam Fox School of Art and Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she also minored in African and African American studies.

"We are delighted to award this fellowship for the first time to such a talented, driven, and promising designer” said Phil Freelon. “Aria exemplifies the academic excellence and opportunity we were hopin...

Zena Howard to replace Phil Freelon as managing director of Perkins+Will's North Carolina office

2017-05-11T13:45:00-04:00

Perkins+Will have announced that Phill Freelon will step aside as managing director of its North Carolina practice, to be replaced by principal Zena Howard. Freelon will continue as design director and still sit on the Board of Directors.

“Having worked with Zena for nearly 14 years, including our close collaboration on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), I can attest to her leadership ability, commitment to client satisfaction, and professionalism,” states Freelon. “Her promotion to managing director is well-deserved, and our clients are in very good hands.”

Take a listen to our recent interview with Freelon, or check out some choice quotes from it here.

Want to know more about Howard? Watch this video interview with her:

An American Story; A conversation with Phil Freelon

2017-03-02T17:21:00-05:00

For this episode of Archinect Sessions, we're sharing our conversation with Phil Freelon, an architect that has dedicated his life to creating meaningful, thoughtful works of architecture that contribute to American culture and civil rights.

Recent notable projects lead by Mr. Freelon include the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Atlanta's National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco and Emancipation Park in Houston. We hope you enjoy our conversation with him discussing his work, growing up in a creative, activist household, his recent diagnosis with ALS, and his love of science fiction.

Phil Freelon on Engaging with Black History Through Architecture

Listen to episode 98 of Archinect Sessions, "An American Story":

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Harvard GSD launches new fellowship in partnership with Perkins+Will to support students of color

2016-11-04T15:32:00-04:00

Architecture is often criticized for its lack of diversity, and many feel that education is a key way to address the issue for the future. In that vein, Harvard's GSD announced yesterday the establishment of the Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund, designed to "provide expanded academic opportunities to African American and other under-represented architecture and design students at the GSD."

At the announcement, Philip Freelon of Perkins+Will noted the significance of such fellowships in encouraging (and attracting) diversity at the GSD: “As the design profession continues to attract a more diverse talent base, this gift will provide students of color with financial assistance that could make pursuing an advanced degree at the GSD possible. It’s an important step in broadening the GSD’s reach.”

GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi thanked Perkins+Will and Phil Freelon, referring to how “the creativity, dynamism, and success of our GSD community are enriched by and even contingent on an increasingly ...

Freelon Group bought by Perkins + Will

2014-03-05T11:21:00-05:00

“With Phil Freelon, his experienced team of 40 designers, and other professionals who intend to join Perkins+Will, we look forward to offering clients a deeper level of cultural design expertise,”

This one just hurts. Even though we'd run across the Freelon Group on project RFP's occasionally, I've long admired how he's built up his firm and was able to compete against the bigger companies, especially in the cultural arena. So, to see them sell off to P+W...is there anyone left who they haven't acquired?

Profile: Philip G. Freelon

2009-04-21T13:25:00-04:00

The News & Observer (NC) profiles Philip Freelon, head of The Freelon Group, who is designing the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, along with David Adjaye and others. TN&O | prev. | related commentary