One of the most anticipated projects of the summer is ready to make its official public debut later this month as the finishing touches are being put in place for the new Moody Nolan and Pei Cobb Freed-designed International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Sited along the city’s historic harbor that was, in its heyday, the “ground zero” of the slave trade in the southern United States, the museum seeks to educate visitors using a series of nine thematic galleries and the “power of place” present in its location at Gadsden’s Wharf.

The project is the culmination of over two decades of planning, advocacy, and design consultations between both firms, varied stakeholders, historians, politicians, and residents whose collaborations, in the end, beget what ought to become a transformative testament to the power of storytelling for Americans of every background.

The museum will likewise serve the community as a “groundbreaking resource for the study and advancement of African American genealogy, with connections to Africa and the African diaspora.”

Hood Design Studio also contributed to the landscape design for the project, which traces diasporic pathways from slavery through the present day. 

The museum will now officially open on June 27th this year after delaying its anticipated Martin Luther King Day opening to fix climate control issues within the 40,000-square-foot structure. Total costs for the project were around $100 million. 

Additional photos of the completed construction can be viewed in the image gallery below.