Duke University – Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture

2024 AIA Aspire Award - Interior Architecture Citation

Location: Durham, North Carolina
Project Size: 3,600 SF

Destroyed by a flood in 2022, the reimagined Mary Lou Williams Center is intentionally conceived as a refuge and home for those who often experience a lack of community, voice, or platform.

The African Diaspora is a biproduct of division, fragmentation, and erasure. The forced dispersion of Africans to the far-flug corners of the earth fractured families, communities, and cultures. Yet, not all was lost. Even in separation, heterogeneous remnants of a shared culture persisted unified by a dormant rhythm, resonance, and cadence residing within all members of the Diaspora.

“Anything you are shows up in your music – jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through.” - Mary Lou Williams

The design of this space draws inspiration from this shared rhythm and the legacy of the Center’s namesake - jazz composer Mary Lou Williams . Across generations, when cultures of the African Diaspora convened, there was invariably a “drum”—a beat that allowed us to collectively celebrate, mourn, and heal, often without the need for words.

This space is envisioned as a central gathering spot, focused around a figurative drum adorned with symbols inspired by Adinkra and other echoes of the African Diaspora.

The legacy of the Gullah Geechee also inspired the design. Charleston, South Carolina was the epicenter for the splintering of various people from the African continent. Yet, from this scattering arose a fusion and the birth of a new collective, one that fashioned a new culture to commemorate, mourn, and heal. Rooted in the Gullah belief in Haint Blue, a color that would keep threatening spirits away, the interior color palette of the Center evokes feelings of comfort and home-serving as a sanctuary and a forum for community.