The House That Freedoms Built

featured project

La Vaughn Belle, The House That Freedoms Built

https://www.lavaughnbelle.com

Project Team Members (Powerhouse Arts Staff): Daniel Quinn, Rich Watts, Cuba Cubicle, Onyelukachukwu Haidome, Alec Reed, Devon Petrovits, Hana Jackson, Ben Reyes, Vivian Pullan, Xan Thompson, Joe Schaefer, Ginalola Lowry, Brittni Collins, Jeremy Gender

Commissioner/Funder/Presenter(s): Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

The exhibition is organized by Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Cooper Hewitt’s curator of contemporary design and Hintz Secretarial Scholar; Christina L. De León, Cooper Hewitt’s acting deputy director of curatorial and associate curator of Latino design; and Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator of architecture and design at the National Museum of African American History and Culture; with curatorial assistants Sophia Gebara, Caroline O’Connell, Julie Pastor, and Isabel Strauss.

https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/making-home

A photograph of La Vaughn Belle's, "The House That Freedoms Built." Made up of three ornate, white scupltures that resemble three homes.

Photo: Elliot Goldstein ©️ Smithsonian Institution

project overview

Belle’s work focuses on the often-forgotten colonial narratives embedded in the architecture and material culture of contemporary society. Her Triennial installation, The House That Freedoms Built, presents three fretwork-adorned structures inspired by the shapes of 18th-century houses built by formerly enslaved people on Saint Croix, set in dialogue with the Georgian Revival exterior of the Carnegie Mansion.

Powerhouse Arts was commissioned to realize the engineering, fabrication, and installation of the artwork, which included the following services: Consulting & Fabrication Design, Modeling & Parametric Design, Engineering Certifications, Fabrication Drawings, Shop Drawings, CNC milling, Metalwork, Finishing, and Installation.

Photos: Elliot Goldstein ©️ Smithsonian Institution

A photograph of people walking in front of three white, ornate sculptural houses outside the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

A photograph of a sign that reads "Making Home" Smithsonian Design Triennial November 2, 2024 to August 10, 2025. In the background are three white, ornate sculptural houses with people walking in front of them.

A detail photograph of La Vaughn Belle's, "The House That Freedoms Built." Made up of three ornate, white scupltures that resemble three homes.

A photograph of a sign that reads "Discover 25 site-specific installations from designers and artists across the U.S., U.S. territories, and Tribal Nations." In the background are three white, ornate sculptural houses.

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