Indiana Museum of African American History (IMAAH), Carmel, IN

Type: Museum / Cultural Institution
Role: Design Architect - Beyond Architecture
Status: Unbuilt

The Indiana Museum of African American History was designed to give physical form to the full cultural contribution of Indiana's African American community — its artists, leaders, musicians, and movements — while housing the state-of-the-art headquarters of Indiana Black Expo. The 120,000-square-foot program includes gallery and exhibit spaces, a 300-seat performance hall, a genealogy research wing, rooftop café and dining, and offices for both the museum and IBE. The project was championed by a board that included Hoosier natives Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and PBS host Tavis Smiley — advocates whose national profiles underscored the institution's ambition.

Two distinct design strategies were developed as the project evolved through its life. The original concept sited the building adjacent to the NCAA Hall of Champions within White River State Park, positioning the museum within Indianapolis's premier cultural and athletic campus. As the site shifted north and west toward the historic Madame Walker Theatre Center, the design responded to its new context with a composition centered on two iconic forms in dialogue: a soaring crystalline tower and a warm, copper-toned drum pavilion connected by a landscaped civic plaza. Precision and warmth, vertical and horizontal, glass and metal — each form a distinct architectural voice, both legible from Indiana Avenue and the surrounding district.

The building's elevation studies reveal how fully the spatial concept was realized. An elliptical performance volume, suspended within a glass-and-steel curtain wall armature at both the Indiana Avenue and West Street facades, creates an institution that shows its program to the street — transparent and monumental simultaneously. The IMAAH represents the most ambitious institutional project in this portfolio: architecture designed in service of history, and history given a building equal to what it holds.