Philip Goodwin Freelon (March 26, 1953 – July 9, 2019) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was best known for leading the design team (with J. Max Bond Jr. of

Davis Brody Bond Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is l ...

, and

David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect who has designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History, National Museum of African American History and ...

) of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

. Some of his other projects include the Center for Civil & Human Rights, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture and the

Museum of the African Diaspora The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a contemporary art museum in San Francisco, California. MoAD holds exhibitions and presents artists exclusively of the African diaspora, one of only a few museums of its kind in the United States. Loc ...

. Freelon was a Fellow of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

(and the recipient of their Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture), and a LEED (

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

) Accredited Professional. In 2012, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

appointed Freelon to the

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction wit ...

. Freelon was married to six-time

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nominated

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Nnenna Freelon Nnenna Freelon (born July 28, 1954) is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger. Early life and education Freelon was born Chinyere Nnenna Pierce to Charles and Frances Pierce in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Massachuset ...

Early life and education

Freelon was a member of the 230th graduating class of Central High School in Philadelphia. He attended Hampton University in Hampton, VA before matriculating at North Carolina State University. Following graduation from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

's College of Design with a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) and top design honors, he went on to earn his

Master of Architecture The Master of Architecture (M.Arch. or MArch) is a graduate professional degree in architecture qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that result in receiving a license. Ove ...

degree from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in 1977.

Career

Freelon served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design,

and has been a visiting

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, MIT, the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, the

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

(

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy, program),

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, and the

New Jersey Institute of Technology New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

, among others. In 1989, Freelon was the recipient of the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the

Harvard University Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

. Freelon was also a Professor of the Practice at MIT in the School of Architecture and Planning.

The Freelon Group

Philip Freelon founded The Freelon Group in 1990. Since then, The Freelon Group has expanded to a sixty-member architectural firm located in the

Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States; it occupies in North Carolina and hosts more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profi ...

area of North Carolina. The Freelon Group offers specialized design expertise in the areas of Museum/Cultural Center, Higher Education and Science/Technology facilities. The firm has received over twenty-five regional, state and local AIA design awards including AIA North Carolina’s Outstanding Firm Award in 2001. Between 2006 and 2007, Freelon's designs were honored with seven AIA North Carolina design awards in those two years. In 2008, The Freelon Group was recognized by Contract Magazine as The Designer of the Year. In 2009, along with partners J. Max Bond Jr. (of

) and

(of Adjaye Associates), Freelon was selected by unanimous decision to design the Smithsonian

. The Museum has five floors above ground and four below. It houses a cafe, educational spaces, exhibition halls and galleries as well as a theater. In March 2014, The Freelon Group announced a planned acquisition by the global architectural design firm

Perkins + Will Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the wikt:kin, kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid- and southern England. Another deriva ...

. Following the close of the transaction, Freelon joined Perkins + Will’s board of directors and became the managing and design director of the firm’s North Carolina practice.

Awards and recognition

* Designer of the Year in ''Contract'' magazine, 2008 * First prize in the PPG Furniture Design Competition * AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for public architecture, 2009 * AIA North Carolina’s Gold Medal, 2010 * Design Guild Award, College of Design at NC State University, 2012 * U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, appointed 2012 * Fellow of the American Institute of Architects * Kea Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland, 2013

Legacy

Freelon's papers are housed at

Libraries' Special Collections Research Center. In honor of his contributions to the architectural field, the Harvard Graduate School of Design created the Phil Freelon Fellowship Fund. The fund "will provide financial aid to students attending the GSD with the intent to expand academic opportunities for African American and other under-represented architecture and design students." In 2017, inaugural the Phil Freelon Fellowship was awarded to Aria Griffin.

Personal life

Freelon was the grandson of the

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter and educator Allan Randall Freelon. He was married to singer

, with whom he had three children: Deen, Maya, and Pierce. In 2016, Freelon was diagnosed with

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

. He died on July 9, 2019, in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

at the age of 66. Freelon's end-of-life care and terminal struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was documented on the

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrenc ...

documentary ''Matter of Mind: My ALS'' which originally premiered May 1st, 2023 on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

References

External links

Guide to the Phil Freelon Oral History 2017 May 8

MIT faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freelon, Philip 1952 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American architects 21st-century American architects African-American architects Architects from Philadelphia Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Deaths from motor neuron disease in North Carolina Hampton University alumni Harvard University staff MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty North Carolina State University alumni North Carolina State University faculty University of Maryland, College Park faculty University of Utah faculty 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American artists