BIG’s national juneteenth museum moves toward construction in fort worth, texas

national juneteenth museum by big moves toward construction

BIG and Alligood Song Architects’ National Juneteenth Museum is set to begin construction in Fort Worth, Texas, marking a significant step forward for a project first envisioned by activist Opal Lee, widely known as the ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth.’ Developed with KAI Enterprises and the local community, the 72,000-square-foot (6,689 square meter) institution aims to serve as a national center for the preservation, interpretation, and celebration of Juneteenth while supporting ongoing revitalization efforts in the city’s Historic Southside neighborhood.

The project combines cultural programming with economic development initiatives. Alongside immersive exhibition galleries, plans include a business incubator, food hall for local vendors, theater, and flexible event spaces intended to support community use throughout the year. The mix of programs reflects the institution’s broader ambition to become both a cultural destination and a neighborhood resource.

Inspired by the Juneteenth flag, the mass timber structure centers on a nova star-shaped courtyard that acts as the focal point of the building. BIG and Alligood Song Architects draw on the gabled rooflines and porch typologies found throughout Historic Southside, translating familiar residential forms into a civic space organized around gathering, education, and public events. Multiple street-level entrances connect directly to the central courtyard, while galleries and public programs are arranged around a circular plan that encourages movement between exhibition spaces and community facilities. Extensive glazing and exposed timber construction bring daylight deep into the interior and establish visual connections across the building.

Beyond its architectural expression, the project represents the latest milestone in Opal Lee’s decades-long advocacy surrounding Juneteenth. Following her successful campaign to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, the museum provides a permanent home for the ongoing documentation and discussion of African American freedom, history, and civic life.

all images by BIG, unless stated otherwise

organizing the museum around a nova star courtyard

BIG’s scheme embraces the local African American experience-at-large through motifs, symbolic touchpoints, and inclusive wayfinding. Informed by the gabled rooftops that define the Historic Southside neighborhood, the museum merges the historic gabled silhouette of individual homes with their protruding porches to create spaces for learning, gathering, and contemplation.

The museum’s undulating roof creates a series of ridges, peaks, and valleys of varying heights that combine to create a ‘nova star’ shaped courtyard in the middle of the museum. Meaning ‘new star,’ the nova star represents a new chapter for the African Americans looking ahead towards a more just future. The publicly accessible courtyard will be the anchor for the museum and its activities. At the center of the courtyard, a ‘five point’ star is engraved into the terrazzo pavement in gold, featuring ‘starbursts’ of varying warm concrete colors. In addition to representing Texas, the last state to adopt and acknowledge the freedom of African American slaves, the star nods to the American flag’s 50 stars that represent all 50 U.S states, representing the freedom of African Americans across the country.

image courtesy of @plo.mp

revitalization efforts in fort worth’s historic southside

While five street-level entrances allow the galleries and exhibitions to be accessed as individual spaces, two publicly-accessible covered ‘portals’ connect directly to the courtyard and main gallery entrances, welcoming visitors from both the north and the southwest of the site via generous entryways defined by warm, vibrant colors. The mass timber structure that defines the design’s materiality continues into the interior, visually connecting the two realms.

In addition to this visual continuity of the materiality, the building’s public and private realms are also interconnected through the museum’s circular layout; on the first floor, the two portals that connect to the courtyard are flanked by each of the programs: one portion of the galleries, the business incubator, the food hall for local vendors, the Black Box flex space, and the theater. To access the museum galleries, which begin on the first floor, guests enter the generous reception area and are guided to the light-filled mezzanine level via a staircase or wheelchair-accessible elevator.

the National Juneteenth Museum draws on the gabled rooflines of Fort Worth’s historic southside

The mezzanine level reveals the rest of the gallery spaces, which are connected by a ring of circulation that wraps the courtyard. Glass is utilized as the interior wall of both the first and mezzanine floors to create a sense of openness and transparency while complementing the pared-back timber and concrete materials. Similarly, the ‘nova star’ cut out of the roof at the center of the building of which the mezzanine wraps around allows light to travel through the entire space. Wrapping around the nova star shape above, the mezzanine galleries physically connect each of the programs while being literally elevated—providing visitors an above perspective of the public courtyard below, and those in the courtyard with views of the galleries above.

Outside the museum building, a network of plazas provides wayfinding opportunities, extending the sense of community of the interior to the outdoor spaces. Polished concrete and terrazzo flooring continue out to the exterior spaces, creating visual continuity between the public and private realms. Generous lawns, native landscaping, and wood seating are dispersed throughout the plaza areas, providing places for outdoor exhibitions, large-scale installations and gatherings.

the museum’s Nova Star Courtyard forms the symbolic center of the project

The National Juneteenth Museum is being developed in close collaboration with the local community in the effort to revitalize the Historic Southside neighborhood, which was divided by the I-35W highway in the 1960s.

Douglass Alligood comments, ‘The National Juneteenth Museum came to BIG looking for a design that captures the social, cultural, and spiritual importance of Juneteenth celebrations for Black people while expressing its historic significance and relevance to all Americans.’

The architect continues, ‘By incorporating a food court with local vendors, a business incubator, black box theater and auditorium, The National Juneteenth Museum will be at the core of a vibrant center to the long neglected Historic Southside. Our hope is that this building will become a gateway to the Historic Southside community of Fort Worth while serving as a national and global destination. Juneteenth is not only American history—it is world history.’

‘This project is special to me on a personal level as well. After nearly 40 years in this profession, I have the opportunity to lead a design for a project that is focused on African American culture. Our engagement with Ms. Opal Lee and members of the community, to really understand their needs, is what informed a lot of the design principles,’ Alligood adds.

multiple entrances connect the museum to surrounding streets and public spaces

‘I’ve had a little Juneteenth Museum in that very spot for almost 20 years, and to see it become a central place for discussion, collaboration and learning seems to be the providential next step—from my walking campaign to Washington, D.C., the petition, and having Juneteenth declared a federal holiday. It’s mind-boggling, but I’m glad to see it all come to pass,’ adds Opal Lee, who fought for Juneteenth to become a federally-recognized holiday in the United States. The holiday on June 19th commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation’s enforcement and the liberation of the remainder of the enslaved both in Texas and throughout the newly reformed United States, which happened on June 19, 1865.

‘KAI is excited to work in concert with BIG as the vision outlined by Ms. Opal Lee of realizing her lifelong dream of making Juneteenth a National Holiday witnessed the signing in the Oval Office come to life in Fort Worth. As President of KAI and life-long learner, passionate about history, I’m honored to contribute to this significant and important part of the fabric of US history,’ says Darren L. James, FAIA, NCARB.

facades reference local residential architecture through a series of pitched roofs