The Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Pavilion serves as a welcome center for the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which are part of EJI’s work to advance truth and justice in America and to more honestly confront the legacy of slavery, lynching, and segregation. Over 650,000 people have visited the sites since they were recently opened. The building includes the ticket office, gift shop, coffee shop, a new southern cuisine restaurant, exhibit space, and a hub where visitors can park and shuttle to the Memorial and Museum.

The design transformed a windowless tilt-up concrete warehouse into an inspirational space where visitors reflect on, and engage with, an often-overlooked history that has shaped Montgomery, and the country. The site is located at the terminus of a downtown artery, providing an opportunity to visually connect the building with the convention center in the heart of downtown Montgomery. The design features a perforated stainless-steel west façade with images of seven key civil rights figures from Montgomery, illuminated night and day in a tribute to their enduring legacy.

The design concept layers the site and building floor plan, with a linear park extending the full block, facing downtown and the ballpark, and serving as a respectful forecourt to the building. The building sits on a raised plinth, fronting the park with a gracious porch extending the full length of the building. Carved into the plinth is an interlaced composition of stairs, ramps, and amphitheater-style seating, serving as a place for somber reflection on the truths that one encounters upon visiting the EJI sites. The design features light and transparency with the perforated steel screen as a dynamic living sculpture as reflected light changes throughout the day and night connecting the park, porch and building lobby. The lobby forms an interior street, extending along the porch and park, where visitors can easily find tickets, gift shop, coffee shop, restrooms, and the restaurant. Floating above the lobby, porch and park are the iconic civil rights figures, looking out to the city where this history was made and filtering sunlight onto the porch and lobby. An interior mural wall extends the length of the lobby, reflecting the images on the screen with a narrative explaining the role each civil rights figure played in our history.

The Legacy Pavilion honors local civil rights figures, including Martin Luther King Jr., Claudette Colvin, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Jonathan Daniels, Jo Ann Robinson, and E.D. Nixon, and helps visitors understand the unique role Montgomery played in fueling a civil rights movement that continues to reverberate around the world.    The north end of the park contains a reflection garden featuring a monument to women, men, and children who were victims of racial terror lynching’s in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and during Reconstruction. The Legacy Pavilion black granite monolith fountain raises up from the ground to memorialize over 2,000 people who were lynched between 1865 and 1876, and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice documents the era of racial terror and lynching that occurred between 1877 and 1950.

Completion

2019

Size

32,000 SF

Services

Architecture
Interior Design