Boora Architects

Founded in 1994, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center teaches visitors about the Underground Railroad and gives testimony to ongoing struggles for freedom today. The building sits on a bluff above the Ohio River, which previously demarcated the slave-holding south from the free north. Cincinnati was one of the Underground Railroad's main stations because of this key location. The Freedom Center is part of a $1-billion riverfront redevelopment project that also includes new baseball and football stadiums. A historic bridge designed by John Roebling lies just to the south of the site. Boora served as the Freedom Center's design consultant.  Blackburn Architects of Indianapolis served as lead architect.

The Freedom Center’s site and building design are shaped by the stories within it, starting with the story of the land and the flight of escaping slaves across it. Winding paths through the building; north-south free-running walls on the site; curving forms; undulating building contours; and materials selected for weight, permanence and earthy characteristics recall the sensation of overland flight and the exuberance of freedom pursued. The entire complex of landscape and architecture is united by this single cohesive idea.

The Freedom Center is organized into three pavilions, connected by skybridges, that contain exhibits, a story theater, a multi-use theater, an education and research center, a café, and a gift shop. Since runaway slaves followed circuitous routes -- through the rolling hills of the landscape, to cross the meandering Ohio River -- these curves are echoed in the undulating stone walls that flank the museum’s pavilions and define curving pathways allowing passage through the structure and embodying the geography of escape. The building's exterior materials also evoke the sometimes harsh struggle to achieve liberty, with rough travertine stone blocks, weathered copper cladding, and granite from Zimbabwe.

The Freedom Center's Welcome Hall has been called "Cincinnati's living room."  The full-height space is located on the building's second floor, with sweeping southern views of the Ohio River. It provides a memorable sense of arrival, offers patron services, and houses the Freedom Center's art collection.  The Welcome Hall is a popular Cincinnati event space, hosting weddings, parties, bar mitzvahs, business events, and family reunions.

Housed in the Welcome Hall, a pre-Civil War slave pen is the defining feature of the visitor experience.  In the early 1800s, there were thousands of slave pens across the south. They served as cramped holding cells for slaves being force-marched on long journeys westward from Virginia to be sold at auction. All but a scant few of these buildings have been torn down, lost to posterity.  Circulation routes through the Freedom Center ensure that the slave pen not only greets visitors when they enter the building, but also comes into view multiple times as they wander through the center.

The slave pen was recovered from a farm in Mason County, Kentucky.  Farmer Raymond Evers reported the artifact to the museum and offered to donate it to the institution.  The pen had been preserved for over 150 years inside a tobacco barn that had been built around it.  When museum officials and design team members first viewed the slave pen, chains were still attached to the walls.  Chilling and powerful, the slave pen was meticulously disassembled, transported across the Ohio River, restored, and reassembled inside the welcome hall.

In addition to its exhibits, the Freedom Center contains flexible office and gallery spaces that will allow current programs to evolve and grow. An member of the Smithsonian Affiliations Program, the Freedom Center has access to Smithsonian collections, educational programs, and expertise. Since less than 5% of Smithsonian collections is on display at any one time, the Freedom Center will have the opportunity to borrow collections on long-term loan for exhibition.

The ceiling of the theater shows the night sky as it appeared on the date of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.