Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon

Philip Freelon grew up in Philadelphia with a family of art appreciators, including a grandfather who painted during the Harlem Renaissance. He made sketches and models, sculpted, and wrote essays and poems, while succeeding in mathematics and science but struggling with reading. His father shared accounts of racism and discrimination during work travel. In college, Freelon sought writings about Black and Islamic architects that were missing from his architecture courses. Those experiences shaped his firm’s focus on projects meant to have a positive effect. He later served as lead architect for a museum on African American history and culture; it opened in 2016. Mixed-media illustrations and endnotes accompany the biography.