New video footage has been released providing the first extensive look inside David Adjaye’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

Builders are putting the final touches to the museum, which will be opened by US President Barack Obama on 24 September 2016.

The video, released by The Washington Post, shows construction workers installing the display cases in readiness for the first exhibits – which will focus on themes of African American history, culture and community.



Charles Yetter, a senior project manager with construction consultant McKissack & McKissack, told The Post that the project is on schedule.

The video reveals the museum’s spacious interiors will feature intricate patterned copper details, echoing Adjaye’s facade for the building and creating “glowing” rooms according to Yetter.

Exhibition galleries, an education centre, a 350-seat theatre, a café and a store will be spread across nine storeys. Signature spaces are the Contemplative Court, a memorial area for reflection; the Central Hall, the primary public space in the museum; and a reflecting pool at the south entrance.

The 400,000sq ft (37,000sq m) museum is located on a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue. A series of openings throughout the exhibition spaces frame views of the Washington Monument and the White House.

“What we wanted was spaces with a lot of dramatic viewpoints,” said exhibition designer Ralph Appelbaum.

Exhibitions already in place include a wood cabin used during the period of slavery at Point of Pines Plantation in South Carolina, a log cabin of free slaves and a segregation-era railway carriage.

In total, the museum will have a collection of 34,000 artefacts. It will open with 11 inaugural exhibitions.

Speaking in February, the museum’s founding director Lonnie Bunch said: “Visitors will walk through the doors of the museum and see that it is a place for all people. We are prepared to offer exhibitions and programmes to unite and capture the attention of millions worldwide.

“It will be a place for healing and reconciliation, a place where everyone can explore the story of America through the lens of the African American experience.”

The opening ceremony will be the focus of a week-long celebration, which will include a three-day festival showcasing popular music, literature, dance and film.

Adjaye Associates worked with architecture studios Freelon Group and David Brody Bond Aedas on the project, under the collective name Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup.

Video credit: McKenna Ewen/The Washington Post