The Smithsonian has announced the shortlist of firms for the design of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.
A collaborative architectural and engineering team of architect Harry Robinson FAIA, former Dean of the Howard University School of Architecture, associate architects Blackburn Architects founded by Walter and Alpha Blackburn who has just completed the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, landscape designer Michel Desvigne, engineering firm URS and Foster + Partners will work together on a two-month design competition for the Museum.
The museum is scheduled to be constructed on a five-acre plot of land on Washington DCs Constitution Avenue between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonians National Museum of American History.
Total project cost for designing, constructing and installing exhibitions in the new museum is estimated at about $500 million, of which one-half will be provided by Congress. The Smithsonian will raise the remainder. Construction of the building is expected to begin in 2012 and open to the public in 2015.