HINESAD Wins NOMA Phil Freelon Professional Design Award

Reclaiming a Site of Hate as a Platform for Healing

At the 2023 National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) conference held in Portland, Oregon, HINESAD was honored with the Phil Freelon Professional Design Award—the organization’s highest recognition for design excellence. The award celebrates visionary projects that center community, culture, and spatial justice in the built environment.

HINESAD received the award for its design of the African American Memorial at Bates M. Allen Park in Fort Bend County, Texas. The memorial was praised by the jury for its conceptual clarity and civic ambition—recognizing it as a vital work of reparative design that speaks to the broader African Diaspora.

The project serves as a cultural landmark, honoring the legacy of enslaved people, survivors of the convict leasing system, and the many Black residents who helped shape Fort Bend County’s history. Through monumental form, sacred landscape, and symbolic meaning, the memorial offers a powerful space for remembrance, resilience, and reflection.

Named in honor of the late Phil Freelon, a pioneering architect known for his work on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the award places HINESAD’s work in a distinguished lineage of culturally grounded and future-facing design.

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Conference recap via NOMA