Events & Online Programming

Previous Programs

• Film Screening: Landscapes of Exclusion Monday, May 22, 2023, 6 - 8:30 PM Free Admission

  • Equity in the Built Environment

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  Landscapes of Exclusion: State Parks and Jim Crow in the American South 

  Based on the award-winning book by William E. O’Brien, the film underscores the profound inequality that persisted for decades in the number, size, and quality of state park spaces provided for Black visitors across the South. Even though it has largely faded from public awareness, the imprint of segregated design remains visible in many state parks. Emphasizing the events leading to integration in the 1960s, this film features commentary by author William E. O’Brien and the architect Arthur J. Clement, who attended a segregated state park as a child. Dramatic images and live footage bring this painful history into contemporary focus.

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• Spotlight on Design: Neri&Hu May 22, 2023 $10 Museum Member | Free Student | $15 Non-member

  • Spotlight on Design

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  How does design embody collective longing, constructing and revealing relationships between places, cultural history, and public memory?

  Neri&Hu’s interdisciplinary design practice exemplifies architecture’s potential for cultural preservation and poetic place-making. Founded in Shanghai in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, their research-based projects range from master planning and architecture to interior and product design, capturing the collective imagination amidst rapid development and disappearing cultural contexts.

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• The Wall/El Muro Dance and Discussion Saturday, April 22, 2023, 5-7:30 PM $10 Museum Member | Free Student | $15 Non-member

  • Equity in the Built Environment
  • Upcoming Programs

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  What does a border delineate, and how does it exist beyond a physical wall? Where does the permeability of the US-Mexico border begin and end, and how does it affect people throughout the country? While the border might be far away, the policies reverberate all the way to the nation’s capital.

  In support of our exhibition The Wall/El Muro: What is a Border Wall?, the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company performance entitled ‘El Muro’ (“The Wall” in Spanish) confronts the topic of immigration along the southern border. The dance will be followed by a presentation by the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition, examining the challenges immigrants face inside and outside detention centers dispersed across the US, including in the DC area.
  

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• Centering Equity in Transportation Thursday, March 9, 2023, 6 - 7:30 PM Free Admission

  • Equity in the Built Environment
  • Upcoming Programs

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  What does equity in transportation mean? How do we quantify our target, or measure our progress? What will it take to shift thinking from “we need to build a new metro line” to “we need to find a way to connect more people to job opportunities?” From “we need to upgrade that road” to “we need to provide fast and safe connections between and within communities”? Successes are often catalyzed by local community activism or targeted investments like the recently launched federal Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program and Justice 40 Initiative. But to undo the harms done to historically marginalized communities, we need equity to be at the root of every transportation project, driving goals and decisions from policy to strategy, scoping to design, and delivery to unveiling.

  Join Arup’s Global Transportation Leader Isabel Dedring for an exploration of the inherent challenges to transformation in the transportation industry, followed by an in-depth discussion with local transportation industry and community representatives about equity challenges and opportunities in the wider DC area.

  In collaboration with the National Building Museum, Arup is pleased to present this event free of charge for attendees. If you are able, please consider a donation to support the museum’s continued work to raise awareness of the key challenges and opportunities that are shaping the future of the built environment.

  This program continues the National Building Museum’s Equity in the Built Environment series of conversations that focus on how buildings, landscapes, interiors, and streets can be the cause of—and, more important, the cure for—social and racial disparities.

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• BlackSpace...at the Intersection of Diversity, Agency, and Design February 25, 2023, 2-5 pm $20 Museum Member | $5 Student | $35 Non-member

  • Equity in the Built Environment
  • Upcoming Programs

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  On February 25, BlackSpace Urbanist Collective for a fast-paced, hands-on and interactive design charette where participants reconceptualize the built environment using principles of inclusive and culturally affirming design​. Charette expands thinking about the possibilities for affirming Black cultural presence in design projects. This program will be followed by a reception at 5pm.​

  The BlackSpace Urbanist Collective facilitates conversations exploring the importance of Black spaces and the power of design in creating and conserving these spaces for Black people. Their workshops are thought and action sessions, providing participants with a chance for deeper discussion and collaboration. No design experience needed! Open to all professionals, students, and the design curious.

  This program qualifies for 3 LU/HSW (AIA), 3 PDH (LA CES/ASLA).

  This program will be in-person at the National Building Museum.

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• Celebration of Howard University and Albert Cassell Thursday, February 23, 2023, 6-8 PM $10 Museum Member | Free Student | $15 Non-member

  • Equity in the Built Environment
  • Upcoming Programs

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  In celebration of Black History Month and in partnership with Howard University, the National Building will host a panel discussion exploring the life, work and impact of Albert Cassell, at the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture. A Howard University Architecture Professor and author of the pivotal Howard University 1932 Master Plan, Cassell’s legacy continues to shape the face of Howard University’s campus and the broader U street corridor. Through his teaching and practice, Cassell paved the way for generations of architects of color, including the subsequent generations of his own family. This program also commemorates the 112th anniversary of the founding of Howard University’s Department of Architecture.

  Please note: online ticket sales end at midnight on February 22. Availability permitting, tickets can be purchased day-of at the door.

  This program will be presented in the Innovation Space at the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture, 2300 6th St NW, Washington, DC 20059.

  Doors open at 6pm. Program from 6:30 – 8pm.

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