i'm pleased to have david adjaye at this program for the first time. welcome. >> thank you. >> rose: big honor for us. >> thank you. >> rose: this was not your regular commission. >> no. >> rose: tell me about it, the idea first expressed to rou, and how you felt about it, and how it motivated you to do such a magnificent piece of work. >> thank you. well, it was an incredible competition that the smithsonian sat in 2009. and it was an international competition. we were thrilled to be on the short list. we thought we got the incredible briefing documents. we were just inspired. i was deeply inspired by it, the fact that this museum actually had a chance to be built. and really what we were trying to do and my team, adjaye associates and my office and myself, what we were trying to do is to see if we could make a buildingk a new kind of museum. a museum where the building had an emotional meaning to the content, not just to make a kind of excellent piece of architecture and put something in, but to see if we could marry the two. and that became the whol

becauseall of a sudden and because of the celebration of this, people are saying, i need me some david adjayevid: it's very nice. we have incredible calls. we are working on a fantastic project in san francisco, our first master plan of the old shipyard site, which is really amazing. we are doing our first tower in new york, which is really exciting. onht next to the tower williams street. a very large tower. we are doing a studio museum in harlem, which is the next big cultural institution we are doing. very excited about that. we are also working all over the world. we are doing a museum in san antonio, collections based. charlie: you also are doing in harlem affordable housing in harlem. david: yes, we did a beautiful project for broadway housing, an incredible foundation organization that does work for giving homeless people into their first homes and helping them become integrated in society. i was so inspired by that as a new york model. that was the first project i wanted to launch myself in new york with. something that was about butting dignity and power high design for this communit

collaboration created by max bond benefited from phil freeland's leadership in the wonderful design of david adjayerocess of construction soon realized that this was their building, this was their history, as well. and i need to take a personal moment and thank my family so i can go home. they have lived with every moment of this job for more than a decade. my mother is here. thank you, mom. my wife maria, my daughters katie and sarah, my son-in-law chutley and the love of my life, my granddaughter, harper grace. thank you all so much. it means a lot to me. >> recently, i was asked by a journalist, did we really believe we have could create a museum that had been in the planning for more than a century. how could we not believe whether he we can dip into the reservoir that is african-american history. we believe because the enslaved dreamed a world of freedom that once seemed impossible. we believed because ella baker and fanny lew haimer had faith in an america that did not believe in them. how could we not believe when hearing the words of idab. wells or malcolm or martin? we had to believe becau