The famed Vietnam Wall Memorial designer and 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient took a studio visit with PBS correspondent Jeffrey Brown to discuss her designs for the new Museum of Chinese in America following its partial destruction due to fire in January of 2020.

“I don’t think you can be an Asian-American in 2022 and not be acutely aware of the anti-Asian sentiment,” Lin said at the outset, speaking of the appalling rash of hate crimes that have tormented communities both large and small, from coast to coast as part of our constantly deteriorating social fabric over the past two-plus years since the pandemic.

Personally, I found the concept for the expanded museum rather promising in spite of the criticisms that were wielded against it following the publication of the first batch of project renderings in early April. 

The museum's structure gives a simultaneous nod to the universal task of form-giving, while the facade references the popular Chinese Tangram puzzle Lin enjoyed as a child. Her "playful" design provides a completely redefined institution with the power to elevate oft-overlooked stories of everyday people through a well-programmed new space characterized by an increase in educational offerings and an atrium-spanning "Memory Core" wall. Other important features include an added tea room and an on-site genealogy center. Overall, the 68,000-square-foot construction promises to be one of the most significant American cultural projects to come online in the next few years. 

“You want to share all those stories, teach those stories, but also celebrate how much we’ve helped contribute to and build our country. Because I’m an American,” she said, reflecting on a bias that she has fought against very publicly since first stepping into the national spotlight as a 21-year-old Yale undergraduate in the fall of 1982.

The entire sit-down with Lin and MOCA director Nancy Yao (who shared her own experiences with racism) can be found by following the link here.