Philip G. Freelon | FAIA, LEED AP

President

Phil Freelon is a native of Philadelphia, PA. Following graduation from North Carolina State University’s College of Design with a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) and top design honors, he went on to earn his Master of Architecture degree from MIT in Cambridge, MA.

Founded in 1990, The Freelon Group has grown to 56 total staff including 20 licensed architects and 19 LEED® Accredited Professionals.  Focusing on college/university, transportation/aviation and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered buildings that have had a positive impact on the communities in which they are built.  The firm has recently completed major museum projects in Baltimore, MD and San Francisco, CA.

Freelon’s work has been published in national professional journals including Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Architectural Record, and Contract magazines as well as recent features in Metropolis and Metropolitan Home magazines.  His furniture design has been recognized nationally including first prize in the PPG Furniture Design Competition and a design contract with Herman Miller. The Freelon Group has received twenty-six (26) AIA design awards (regional, state and local) and has also received the North Carolina AIA Outstanding Firm Award in 2001.

Freelon has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design, North Carolina State University and has been a visiting critic/lecturer at Harvard, MIT, the University of Maryland, the University of Utah, the California College of the Arts and Kent State University (Florence Italy, program) among others.  In 1989, Freelon was the recipient of the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.  Phil returns to the classroom this fall to teach a seminar on design centered practice at MIT.

He is currently serving as a Peer Professional in the GSA’s Design Excellence Program and has served on the National Endowment for the Arts Design Stewardship Panel.  Freelon is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and was recently appointed to the Jury for the 2007 National AIA Institute Honor Awards for Architecture.


Executive Profile
NC Magazine February 2008

Designer of the Year: Philip G. Freelon (by Kate Weeks)
Contact Magazine, January 2008

The Community Design Review Process (by Philip G. Freelon)
Urban Land November/December 2007

Charlotte Afro-American Cultural Center
Architectural Record, May 2007

Design 100
Metropolitan Home, May 2007

Museum of the African Diaspora Offers Anecdotal Evidence of a Homesick Humanity,
New York Times: Art & Design, July 20, 2006

Beyond Black + White (by Stephen Zachs) Metropolis, March 2006

People Making News African American Architect,
Magazine of the National Organization of Minority Architects, May 2006

All Things African (by Delfin Vigil)
San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 2006

This Facade is No Facade (by Roslyn Lowe)
LD+A, Focus on Museums and Cultural Centers, Museum of the African Diaspora, June 2006

African American Architects Unite for National Museum Bid (by Valencia Mohammed)
The Washington Afro American, May 2006

Symbol and Celebration: Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture by The Freelon Group and RTKL
ArchNewsNow.com February 15, 2006

Up from the Ashes (by Jennifer Busch) and Perspectives: Interivew with Philip Freelon, FAIA
Contract Magazine, August 2005

Metal Architecture Design Awards (by Bob Fittro)
Metal Architecture, August 2005

Mentoring is Integral Part of Freelon's Design Mission (by Katherine Kopp)
Triangle Business Journal, August 12, 2005

On Point: Philip G. Freelon, FAIA Achieving Mainstream Success Through Diversity, Education and Community (interview by Bruce Lea, III)
Marketer Magazine, June 2005

HBCU Campus Architecture African American Architect,
Magazine of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Spring Issue 2005

Two Men, One Vision: Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
Baltimore Sun, May 5, 2005

On the Boards: North Carolina Central Region Psychiatric Hospital (by C. C. Sullivan)
Architecture, February 2005

In the Mix (by Sofia Galadza)
Contract Magazine, December 2004

Underground Railroad Freedom Center Headlines List of Over 25 African American-Related Museums in the United States (by John E. Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA)
Architectural Record News, September 14, 2004

Commissions and Awards: Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
Contract Magazine, April 2002

Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture
Architectural Record 2002

AIArchitect, Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, 2002

Progressive Architecture, Conference Table, 1992

Architectural Record, RDU Airport Terminal C, 1989