Rendering Visible: The Black Architectural Imagination is an initiative of the National Museum of African American History and Culture focused on the creative production of Black architects and designers.

Through this initiative, the Museum is identifying architectural illustrations that may be desirable for inclusion in the Museum's collection of digital images. Select illustrations will be considered for reproduction through a digital platform and/or print publication about the Black architectural imagination.

The Museum has collected sketches, renderings, and artistic visualizations that convey the intent and concept of a design project. Our collections also include drawings completed without a design intent, such as travel sketches and other creative expressions. We are interested in a broad range of visual material—from hand-painted watercolors to mixed media collage to digitally produced imagery that shines light on the creativity of architects, landscape architects, and other design professionals.

We use the video player Able Player to provide captions and audio descriptions. Able Player performs best using web browsers Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. If you are using Safari as your browser, use the play button to continue the video after each audio description. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Our Museum, like all Smithsonian museums, hopes to benefit from donations of artifacts and archival documents. Due to the volume of offers, we cannot accept materials through the mail without prior communication. 

Pamphlet for Soul City
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Trumpauer-Mulholland Collection
An architectural drawing of the new Student Center at the University of the District of Columbia.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Architectural Design Archives, Michael Marshall, Architect
Image of Greek Doric Columns
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Peter Cook in honor of Julian Francis Abele and Julian Abele Cook, Sr., © Estate of Julian Abele Cook Sr.
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