All language subtitles for The.Art.of.Architecture.S01E06.Episode.6.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-TEPES

Narrator: In Scotland,
one of the nation's

best-known whisky-makers has
built a new distillery.

Dropped into the hillside above
the River Spey,

it's unlike any other.

[intense piano music]

It could be a structure from
the Cold War,

or something out of
James Bond...

A year after it was opened,

it's become a stop
on the tourist trail,

and not just for the whisky.

The competition to design this
most unusual of distilleries

was won by the London-based
partnership

of Richard Rogers, Graham Stirk
and Ivan Harbour.

And to Graham Stirk fell
the task of re-imagining

an age-old process for
the 21st century.

Graham Stirk: The whole point
was the mystery revealed.

Suddenly this distillery
pops up.

And the mystery revealed was why
we were very interested in...

The word we used in the
presentation was this is...

this is Jules Verne.

This is something where you find

a piece of almost Victorian
engineering buried

and still functioning below
ground.

And it was the contrast of
the two which was actually

really, really important.

[intense and quick piano music]

[upbeat percussive
ensemble music]

Narrator: Few architects can
afford to work in a building

they designed.

Graham Stirk does.

His office is
in Leadenhall Street

in the City of London,

in the building affectionately
known as the 'Cheesegrater',

which sprang from his drawing
board in 2000

and cost its developers
£340 million.

From his desk he can see -
and almost touch -

the Lloyds Headquarters,

on which he worked over
thirty years ago,

when he first joined
Richard Rogers,

the architect who gave the world
the Pompidou Centre.

The Lloyd's Building is still
a source of wonder to him...

[rhythmic piano ensemble music]

Graham: When I joined, Lloyds of
London was a hole in the ground.

They'd done Pompidou, so...

..and...

..it's interesting...

..coming out of college

and then finding yourself
on something like that,

I mean, maybe some people are
cooler than I,

but I... I found it...
God, I was...

..I found it terrifying.

And... it's all pre- computer,
as well.

Lloyds of London. So, it's all
hand drawn.

Try to find your way around it.

The first year was...

..I learnt a great deal.

Narrator: Graham Stirk came to
work for Richard Rogers in 1983,

rapidly became a director,

and, in 2007, Rogers changed
the name of his practice

to reflect Stirk and
Ivan Harbour's contribution

to the business.

There's a name and a reputation
to live up to.

Which means there is pressure in
Graham Stirk's everyday life,

though you would hardly know it.

With his team, he's become used
to drawing buildings,

which are complex,

not only in their appearance,
but also in the way they work.

And, over the years,
he's adjusted his mind

to design at scale - something
not all architects achieve.

[rhythmic and whimsical
piano music]

Size marks out his buildings,

and may have influenced
the Scottish whisky giant,

Macallan, when it chose him
to design a new distillery

and visitor experience on their
site in north-east Scotland,

Speyside, the spiritual home
of the many firms -

big and small,

which produce what Scots like
to call 'the water of life.'

[fervent string music]

But, first, there was a
competition to be won,

which meant a crash course

in the mechanics of whisky
production.

Graham: I found... I found it
fascinating

and went, what? What do this...

..what does this equipment
look like?

So, we were Googling what
the equipment was like,

we were... well, so we got all
the stills wrong,

the wrong shapes
in the first one.

Was... what does... and
then... what...

the... you know, we were trying
to understand

what this equipment was,

and then we realised as well
at the competition,

we knew it wasn't going to be
a modern art gallery.

It wasn't going to be this
beautiful,

cool space with a few beautiful
stills sat within it, you know?

It's an industrial production.

And at that time, this idea
of moving it into a big,

rectangular building with
circular...

..each circle represents,

what is required to make
five million litres

of whiskey a year.

And so we... we decided in terms
of the legibility

that each would then represent
something that would inform

the bulge in... in the roof.

I suppose the artistry is...
it's not all the same.

Where does one enter
the building?

And, which is why when they
rock, they roll

and then one goes higher
to signal the entrance.

[intriguing orchestral music]

Narrator: Graham Stirk's first
sketches included a diagram

that showed the component parts
of production.

Then came a series of sketches
of the humped roofs

that would eventually sit above
the whisky-producing stills.

The sketch was inputted
to a computer

and refined into a wire
diagram modelling

not only the overall shape, but
also the individual squares

that would make up the roof...

..squares which would contain
vegetation

to help it blend into
the landscape.

And, the wire diagram,
a 2D image on a screen,

was turned into a physical
model,

so that the team could get up
close and personal

with the spaces they were
designing.

But, through all the iterations
of the design,

from plans to technical
drawings,

the scheme never moved far

from Graham Stirk's first
sketch.

[playful string orchestral
music]

[suspenseful single notes]

Graham Hutcheon: Graham Stirk
kind of hit it on the head.

He got the lie of the land
right,

he got... sympathy with the
environment it was in,

and he came up with some really
interesting ideas

from the roof to the
visitor centre

being part of the whole building

and that kind of symbiosis
of brand and operations

was really, really well
understood.

He kind of got the hard wire.

[emotive piano music]

Two things inspired us.

The design and the concept as...

..as presented,
and Graham himself.

The passion - he's quite a
quiet and reserved individual,

but the passion come out of him

when he presented this... this
wonderful concept.

And actually what we've got in
reality is not too far removed

from the original concept that
was presented in 2012.

[striking single note from
an organ]

Graham Stirk: It's a thing that
sometimes we use,

it's... it begins as a diagram,
but the diagram,

you can't start with a diagram

and just follow a logical
process

and arrive at a building.

You have to test the
architectural possibilities

of how something can resolve
the complexity

of this problem elegantly, and
begin to give meaning and drama

to the process that's taking
place within,

in this particular instance.

You have to artificially
accelerate...

..where a building may head,

because you need to create
visual images.

It's... we used to do it with
evocative sketches.

It's difficult to hide
or to keep loose,

especially with our form
of architecture

it's not something you just say
that's the image.

You know, these things take
an awful lot of evolution.

[emotive orchestral music]

Narrator: There is a marked
difference between designing

for the City of London

and designing for the
countryside of Scotland.

Graham Stirk didn't immediately
walk the site,

but thinking about it from his
desk in London

he realised that his building
must complement

the surrounding hills,

blend in... ideally sink in,

though his team knew that would
be expensive.

[emotive string music]

Graham Stirk: I prefer to test
ideas and then view something.

Mainly because it's so possible
to be able to explore things

through terrain relationships.

The idea of making it part
of the landscape

was which form of architecture
do we derive.

We... if we were in
an open field

or in a valley as
a stand-alone building,

you could create something
that sits

as a very beautiful contrast
to that.

This had a backdrop
of a whole series

of maturation facility
buildings,

which basically hold much of the
spirit for ten years minimum.

And then you had a small village
adjacent to it,

which is the existing facility,

which has its utilitarian
components

and the older maturation sheds.

What form of architecture
do you introduce?

So, our view was to make
something

which was of a landscape,

but very clearly a man-made
landscape.

Graham Hutcheon: Whether in
London or here, we met him,

and the ideas would just come
rolling out

and he'd draw them down
and nothing is discarded.

He keeps all the drawings,
and they're in a book, actually,

and many of these sketches
he did.

And they became part
of the process.

So, he has a talent, there's
no doubt about that,

that it's terrific to watch.

But as an engineer myself,
as an engineer,

what I was impressed by Graham
and his team

is he understood the
practicalities of what

they were doing.

Can you build it?
Can you make it?

It gave our construction team
some real challenges,

to be perfectly honest.

But they got through it and they
got through it together.

And if it didn't work,
they'd tweak it

and change the design as they
went along.

But fundamentally,
the team were terrific.

It was a great experience over
39 months of a build, yeah.

Narrator: Though the new
distillery would be sunk

into the hillside,

its roof would be there
for all to see.

It would take its cue from
the surrounding hills

and it would be a good
example of something architects

often talk about,
form following function.

Toby Jeavons: The roof is the
response to the landscape.

It is deliberately rotational
in its form,

which is a reflection
of the arrangement,

the very particular arrangement,
of the production equipment

that we laid down in these
repetitive cells.

It's also very much a system.

So, the accentuation over
the visitor experience

obviously gives you that
slightly cathedral like space

as a visitor, particularly when
you move into...

..from the compression
of the entrance

out into the visitor experience.

And then the notion of this sort
of exhibition space here,

the roof geometry flattens out,

and the idea is that
it's an extrusion.

In theory it could keep going.

It's no longer a response
to the production equipment

that is happening underneath.

So yeah, it's localised,
so it's an approach

and a response to the activities
that are happening beneath.

We don't have a fermentation
room and a still room.

We have a cell of production
that...

..that collectively produces
five million litres of...

..of spirits.

That can then be replicated
numerous times.

Once there was a decision
to want to respond sensitively

in this location...

..the essence of a concept,
I think,

began to form.

Narrator: Graham Stirk's design
was so radically different

from anything on Speyside,
where most distilleries

have grown up organically
and operate on a small scale.

That there was a question mark
over whether Macallan

would be prepared to invest the
money required to realise it.

And, if the answer was yes,
would they stay the course

over four years of construction,

footing the bill for
the smart interior

whose details the architect
and his team believed

were as important
as the exterior.

Graham Hutcheon: And my mantra
was we cannot remove

the design intent.

Regardless of the pressures
we're under from...

..there's always budgetary
pressures

in these kind of projects
and companies go down

and you've got to change
the supplier.

The design intent
was fundamental.

We had to deliver the wow factor

that we were trying to deliver
from the very outset.

So yeah, we had to hold the
line, we had to work together,

we had to compromise,

and agree a way forward,

and it was a very refreshing
experience.

[emotive piano ensemble music]

[striking orchestral music]

[fervent string music]

Narrator: We know
Richard Rogers,

now Lord Rogers of Riverside,

for the Pompidou Centre
in Paris, 1971,

and the
Lloyd's Register Headquarters

in the City of London, in 1988.

Today, his practice thrives
on the work of 200 staff

led by the two partners whose
names were added to the practice

in 2007...

..Ivan Harbour,
his 'Maggie's Centre' in London

and Terminal four
at Madrid Airport,

both won the Stirling Prize.

And, Graham Stirk, born in
Leeds, a good drawer at school,

later a scholarship student at
the Architectural Association,

who was introduced to Richard
Rogers in the early 1980s,

and never looked back.

Nearly four decades later,
Graham Stirk takes the credit

for projects such as
Number One Hyde Park,

and the Leadenhall Building,
the Wedge,

that became to Londoners
the 'Cheesegrater'.

Graham Stirk: This building
is interesting.

Having worked on Lloyds of
London 30-odd years earlier,

this was a speculative office
building

that had no known end user
at that time.

We were opposite the most
bespoke headquarters building

for a world organisation on the
opposite side of the road.

And the prospect is terrifying.

When the... you know,
the budget similarities

of the legibility of Lloyds,

which is a beautiful diagram,
as you fully know...

..and how does one manifest that
same level of clarity

of communicating and celebrating
everything that's necessary

to make a modern building work,

it's a trip round the size
museum,

slightly more elegantly
presented,

is... the prospect is terrifying

and the whole mechanisms,
cost profiles,

regulations, everything have all
changed since then.

So, we have to kind of keep
moving with each of the shifts

to see whether we could
actually...

..we can't replicate it.

But we can still be
as communicative

with what it is we're trying
to... design.

Narrator: The Leadenhall
Building was adjusted

during its design, to lean back.

Why? To protect views
of St Paul's Cathedral.

It was just one of the moments

that gave Graham Stirk
sleepless nights.

Graham Stirk: I suppose
at that time,

we fill our site.

Historically, building towers
was always about

being able to give the residual
amount of site

over to public space.

This had to create something
unusual,

it would create a lot more
permeability,

where if you've ever...
I now work in...

..in the city of London.

It is incredibly congested
public realm.

It's too valuable for anything
to be given up.

So, the creation of something

that could begin to create
incidental spatial drama

as one moves through
the streets is important.

It's... essentially, it's
a creation of public realm,

inception of the plan so
you can't see the public spacing

from the air.

Confidence comes with you at
different particular stages

when things are going well.

It's a temporary,
fleeting thing.

It's a real drag, if I was
honest. It's a real drag.

And... I suppose there are times

when you talk in hindsight
of how excited and fantastic.

There are other times when it's
really difficult. Really ugly.

And... stressful.

But in a sense you are part
of a much wider process.

I suppose it's trying
to maintain some sense

of integrity within
a much wider field

of decision making processes

that are involved in large
scale buildings.

Narrator: The Leadenhall
Building

took fourteen years of Graham
Stirk's life, from 2000 to 2014.

But in 2004,

he also started sketching
something very different,

a new winery for a co-operative
in the Ribera del Duero region

of Spain.

Looking back, we can see some of
the shapes he would later use

on the distillery in Scotland.

Graham Stirk: I think it's
important sometimes

to have a very powerful...
philosophic approach,

which doesn't necessarily mean

that you're producing
a particular style of building

that you then wish to kind
of test against

lots of different typologies.

So, building an agro-industrial
shed in Protos

was... will make a very, very
beautiful, noble shed.

And it's beautifully expressive
of how it's made.

It communicates through a glass

where people can see the
processes that take place.

It creates a very, very
beautiful public realm.

Most of these buildings have
to have a relationship

not only to those that are
using the building,

but also those that
don't use it.

So, we have to oscillate between
the expectations of our client

and the wider expectations
of society.

[emotive string music]

Narrator: The winery in Spain
was designed for the weather.

Graham Stirk could afford
to make a light structure.

In Scotland, something chunkier
would be required.

And it would be bigger...
much bigger.

It would be unique.

[romantic string orchestral
music]

Graham Stirk: I mean, for us,
we're trying to... you know,

like everyone, we're trying
to find a relevant vocabulary

for the 21st century.

[stirring orchestral music]

Narrator: Perhaps the
greatest challenge

in the art of architecture

is ensuring that what you draw
is what you get.

It's one thing to conceptualise
a building,

from the initial sketch through
computer renders

to the technical drawings that
will be used on site.

It is quite another to be there
when your design is executed.

And the road to that point can
be very long.

Toby Jeavons: There were many
challenges over the way,

so it's... it's...

..it's a scheme of very high
ambition,

located in a fairly remote part
of the country.

It required the absolute
commitment of everybody involved

from all of the design team,
the client, principally,

who had the original ambition to
do something quite different

within the industry.

Down to all of the contractors
involved.

I think the level
of coordination

that has been achieved,

which was something that we
aspired to do collectively

as a team, is a testament to
that commitment and hard work

that everybody put in.

That's... that's sort of
manifest in two distinct areas,

I think. First of all
is the integration

between the process equipment,

the actual whiskey making
equipment,

and the hardware of the
building, if we will.

Both within the logistic
coordination

of bringing all of this
production equipment into place.

The various integration of...
of the computer modelling

that was used and exchanged both
between the design,

the building shell and core
design team,

and the process engineers
and Forsyths

who were leading the design

and installation
of the process equipment.

That I think is fantastic,

and the way in which all the
process equipment

sits within this open
grillage...

..gantry floor, is something
to be seen.

And then the coordination
of the timber roof.

So, the timber roof, with its
primary steel support,

and the concrete,

is similarly the integration
coordination required

for those three component parts
to come together,

in the location, potentially in
the weather, working at height.

I think they were some
real challenges,

which were set to the
whole team.

All the timber's coming from
Austria.

The primary steelwork's made
in... just outside York.

So, that final level of design
integration was essential,

and then the physical tolerances

of bringing these component
parts together.

[elevating ensemble music]

No-one wanted to be the weak
link that drops the ball.

Narrator: The art of
architecture

became the art of construction
as the engineers took

Graham Stirk's design and
created it on the ground...

including the unique
timber roof.

Bob Lang: Timber is a
particularly appropriate

material here, because it is
lightweight, and in engineering,

you can actually reach
a situation

where you're putting material in
to haul material up

So, what we did was to make the
permanent structure

as light as we could, and also
take advantage of the geometry,

because there was inherent
stiffness in the geometry.

However, the... the concrete
structure,

the bit that retains the earth,

is... is... is almost
completely divorced

from the timber roof.

That is to say the roof sits
on the concrete.

It's quite often the case
that the walls

that hold the earth back will be
resisted by the roof.

We completely didn't want that.

So, any... any lateral force,

any disturbing force
of the roof,

is taken by this steel
structure here.

So any... could be snow that's
banked heavily on one side,

it could be the wind, it could
be some thermal movement,

several, several things.

But the whole of the lateral
resistance

is taken in this frame here.

And this frame has two purposes.
One is to take the lateral load.

The other one is to take
the vertical load.

So vertical load.
Lateral load goes here.

Only vertical load goes into
the surrounding structure.

And what that means is that
the timber can be as light

as we can possibly make it,

because we're not imposing
extraneous forces

from the earth on it.

Narrator: Artists' impressions
and models can only go so far.

As the actual building emerged

the project architect, on site
every two weeks,

began to wonder how it would
be received

by the residents of Speyside.

Toby Jeavons: I think the local
community liked it.

It was clearly a building
of some quality

and I think everybody
appreciated that

and they knew what that would do
to the local economy,

the local tourism, the local
workforce opportunities.

So, I think it very positively
received.

And the... the sympathetic way
in which it was a response

to the landscape,
I think was very well received.

Both at the formal, public
consultation that happened

as part of the planning process

and then just anecdotally during
the course of construction.

I think they're very
appreciative of the fact

that it wasn't a... a sort of
arrogant, bombastic gesture.

Graham Hutcheon: So I had
responsibility for delivering

the project.

But the day to day management
was my team.

And I think they had some
rocky roads.

And Graham warned us early doors

that we would have some
interesting challenges

along the way, whether it's
materials selection

or budget or one or two serious
decisions we had to make

with the visitor centre.

But we got through it,

and I think the relationship was
very, very good.

The relationship with
the architect was very good,

as was the relationship with
the construction company,

and the process organisations
we used.

And we had to work
in a collaborative way

to deliver what we delivered.

Narrator: When Rogers, Stirk,
Harbour and partners

won the competition to design
this distillery,

Macallan's idea was that there
would be a visitor centre

alongside, but separate.

Graham Stirk and his team
thought it should, instead,

be part of the main building.

But, the idea of having
the public in a space,

which was also occupied
by millions of litres

of flammable alcohol

would give Health and
Safety Officers nightmares.

Graham Stirk: The process
of achieving that

was pretty difficult.

But if you didn't have
the naivete

of trying to make that
special... experience

of being able to walk in
the main still house

and see all of this... this...
oh, iceberg of pot stuff,

because mostly when you see
whiskey, you see stills.

You don't see all this massive
other vessels

that are vital in the process.

For us, it's about... there's
a word they used,

which is integrity, and what you
are seeing - I suppose it is.

It's about the integrity
of the experience.

Toby Jeavons: Locating
the visitor experience

hard up against
the production facility

meant that we needed
a separating wall.

It was always very important

that you could see from
the visitor experience,

and we knew that the end
of the visitor experience

is likely to be your opportunity
to taste the product,

is going to be the bar, and
a dwelling... a dwelling space.

And so from this location,
it was always very important

you could look back into
the production facility

see all of the component parts,

and also from the lower level,

where you've made your way into
the visitor experience,

that again, you've got this full
ten metre tall glass wall

that allows you to see all
of the production.

Because some visitors may not
actually then choose

to do the tour.

So, they can be in the visitor
experience,

which is free for all to enter
and still see this.

To achieve a two hour firewall
to this scale in glazing

was quite a challenge.

And after looking at a number
of options,

we decided that a sprinkler
based, drencher system

would be the most appropriate
way to deal with this,

whilst keeping the glazing
as clear

and as transparent
as possible.

[striking ensemble music]

Narrator: Something like this
had never been done before.

Testing a prototype of
the glass firewall alone

cost half a million pounds.

But it was worth it.

The distillery and the visitor
centre became one.

[emotive piano ensemble music]

Graham Hutcheon: You've got
to put yourself

in the architect's head,
I guess.

I mean, he came up, he knew
the views,

he knew the views to the Ben,

the views to the Spey, the views
along the building,

before it was built.

So, he had the concept
15 metres up

from the ground to see what it's
going to look like,

how it's going to lie,
how it fits,

the view right down
the building.

And that's their expertise,
I guess.

They have a vision

and an ability to turn that
vision into reality,

and it's really very,
very interesting

to see it come out for real.

[orchestral crescendo]

[emotive orchestral music]

Narrator: The Macallan
Distillery on Speyside

has been open for less
than a year,

yet it looks almost untouched.

It's a huge task keeping all
this glass and steel

free from smear and stains,

keeping the visitor-centre
fresh,

ordering the tables and chairs

with such architectural
precision

that they appear part of
Graham Stirk's design.

[whimsical orchestral music]

There is regimentation
everywhere.

The bottles on the whisky wall,

representing almost 200 years
of distilling

are lit by invisible lights,

part of a multi-million pound
illumination scheme.

The copper stills, made by
a firm just down the road

march together in absolute
alignment,

glowing in the morning light,

waiting for the first
of the day's visitors.

They will come not just
to taste,

but to see this new temple to
the art of whisky production.

And they will see it through
the eyes of an architect

who worked on the Lloyds
building all those years ago,

and who still believes
on showing visitors

how a building works.

Graham Stirk: To some extent,

we really did say a number
of times,

we'll make it

the most beautifully coordinated
distillery on earth.

And obviously we can't do
that alone.

We have to hope it's...
you know,

specialists who understand this,

but they set up a fantastic
relationship

with our team to be able to do
what is essentially

this arranged around a circle
and the pipes.

If you look down there,
it's all symmetrical.

And the whole point is,

every part of it you can
actually see the complexity,

which has been treated with
the same amount of care.

And it's the care
of craftsmanship.

And the care of craftsmanship

it's not...
it's just a big statement

and then it's all through there
and we'll show you a few stills.

It's everything.

Everything is visible, and it's
not using fancy materials.

It's just beautifully,
carefully coordinated.

What do modern buildings bring
beyond supergraphic shapes?

How can you describe what...
how they function,

how they work, and celebrate it

and make it into a beautiful,
beautiful pieces

that are given different scales

and hierarchies within the
overall complexity of the image?

[fervent orchestral music]

Narrator: Graham Stirk wanted

to show all parts of the process
of making whisky

but, from his first design,
one was missing,

simply because it was not part
of the original brief.

On this historic site sits
thousands of barrels of whisky

quietly ageing in casks

that have previously been used
to mature sherry

in the bodegas of
Jerez de la Frontera.

But this vital element was not
to be shown

in the new building, until
the design was altered

to include a cave privée, a sort
of 'holy of holies'

into which small groups
are escorted

to pay homage to the
'water of life'.

[soulful piano]

Graham Hutcheon: The cave privée
planned bar

was on a plain bit of paper,
he just hand drew it.

And many of his concepts were
hand drawn.

And then they produced a model,

obviously, when they were
further down the process.

And all these hand drawings,

to scale, I don't know how
he does it,

became a reality.

Graham Stirk: The scaling
of these

start to reflect some of the
incredible ingenuity

of all of those groups
of engineers, you know,

everyone involved, how one can
create something

that starts to say something
beyond pure art.

[soulful piano music]

Graham Hutcheon: We had our...
A number of openings

over a week, and we brought some
clients and some guests,

and we had this wow factor.

Sitting in the project it was
relief more than anything else,

that it was finally done.

We've still got snagging to do,

we know the project's
still to go on.

But to everybody else,
that was the day,

and I think it was
a relief for me.

Certainly for me and my team.

[emotive piano ensemble music]

Now, we're starting to enjoy it

because we're getting people
coming to see what we've done,

and most are impressed,
I believe.

And we think we've done a pretty
good job at the end of the day.

[striking piano music]

The really scary thing is once
you've built it,

will it produce the spirit you
wanted it to produce?

And that's the real secret.

[serenading classical piano]

Graham Stirk: As it's evolved,
I... it's... it's gone beyond

what I imagined,

and sometimes... sometimes,
you know,

I've always been involved

but not at the same intensity
as the first few years.

But it's interesting, the points
of principle hang clear,

but then each piece then
finds a more...

..a more elegant way of
manifesting itself

from those first aspirations.

People don't really teach you
to do big, urban buildings.

You might do a few but
the process of learning,

to go from what you're
exploring as a student

to then suddenly:

You're not handed it. It's like,
well, have a go.

You have to evolve that.

But there's something about
Macallan for me, personally,

that took me back to a period

where actually it made you want
to go into... into architecture.

It was the primary reasons why
you want to go into it.

I suppose everyone secretly
wants to be, you know,

involved in something that
people

beyond your own field might find
fantastic, attractive, exciting.

And that's... it's... you don't
always get that.

We're incredibly proud of it.

Absolutely thrilled to
pieces with it.

[soulful piano music]

Narrator: Next time...

In Washington, the scene
of the biggest protest

in the history of America's
civil rights movement,

the British architect
Sir David Adjaye

has designed a museum
for the ages.

It documents the struggle by
African-Americans

to be "free at last".

This is a very important piece
of democratic theatre

and the African-American
community felt that

they should be represented,
their narrative about their

contribution to what America is
needed to be represented.

I made a conscious decision that
the building was not going to be

a vessel just to put things in.

It wasn't going to be just
a sort of piece of architecture

that would have something
put in it that had a disconnect.

It felt that the story
was so prescient

that the building had to also be
part of the narrative.

It had to be part of the story.