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.
Founded in 1990, The Freelon Group has grown to 60 total staff including 21 licensed architects. Focusing on college/university, transportation/aviation and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore, MD and San Francisco, CA and has recently been selected by the Smithsonian Institution to lead the planning team for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the Mall in Washington, DC.
Freelon's work has been published in national professional journals including Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Architectural Record, and most recently in Contract magazine where he was named Designer of the Year for 2008. Metropolis and Metropolitan Home magazines and the New York Times have also featured Freelon and his firm. His furniture design has been recognized nationally including first prize in the PPG Furniture Design Competition and design contract work with Herman Miller. The Freelon Group has received twenty-six AIA design awards (regional, state and local) and has also received AIA North Carolina’s Outstanding Firm Award in 2001. In 2006 and 2007, Freelon designs were honored with seven AIA North Carolina design awards, an accomplishment never before achieved by one firm in a two year period.
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, Kent State University (Florence Italy, program), Syracuse University, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, 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 is currently a visiting Lecturer at MIT in the School of Architecture and Planning.
Freelon is one of 19 LEED® Accredited Professionals in his firm. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. 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 has served on numerous design award juries including the National AIA Institute Honor Awards for Architecture.
Publications:
Building a Heritage (by Wade Kwon)
Southern Living, June 2008
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 (by C. J Hughes)
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