Architect David Adjaye completes his vision for the first African-American museum

The Smithsonian's National African-American Museum of History and Culture is the first national museum of its kind, but this is more than just a national site for the African-American experience. It's very structure and design is meant to reflect the significance of that history.

That's all part of the vision of lead designer David Adjaye. The idea that a museum can somehow transcend the structural sum of its parts to be something socially transformative isn't just something the British-Ghanaian architect believes about his latest project, it's part of what has driven his broader vision.

"From the very silhouette, you should be questioning what this is," Adjaye explains. "I wanted you to question the notion of what forms add to the landscape of our histories and our sites.

"In this one, I wanted to look specifically at West Africa and Central Africa and to remind people that the roots of African-Americans are in Central and West Africa."

— Produced by Ty Callender