BrandNu Design Studio – helmed by the so-called 'Hip Hop Architect,' Michael Ford – has been selected as the lead architecture firm for the Bronzeville Center for the Arts’ African American art museum planned for a 3.4-acre site on the northeast corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and North Avenue.
The firm – headquartered in Dallas, but with offices in Madison and Albany, New York – created conceptual renderings for the project, but BCA says those are now outdated. It will partner with MIlwaukee’s HGA on the building and site design and community engagement.
Some initial work on the project was undertaken by M&E Architects+Engineers.
The BCA was founded in 2020 with the goal, among other things, of creating an art museum in Bronzeville. It currently operates the 3,500-square-foot Gallery 507, 507 W. North Ave., which also houses the BCA offices.
BrandNu Design has designed projects like the Universal Hip Hop Museum in New York and the Black Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in New Jersey.
Ford, a Detroit native, was named Young Architect of The Year by Wisconsin's Chapter of The American Institute of Architects in 2022 and has gained fame in the media as The Hip Hop Architect, thanks in part to the camp program he launched in 2016, which operates in Dallas, Milwaukee and Chattanooga.
HGA will provide design and technical support – including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural engineering services – via Design Principal Peter Cook, FAIA, NOMA, Cook served as a lead design collaborator on the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and HGA’s Director of Equity Terri Howard.
“The BCA is proud to welcome BrandNu Design to help us bring to fruition our vision for an African American art museum in Bronzeville,” said Kristen Hardy, board chair of the BCA.
“BrandNu uses design as a tool to advance equity, justice, and inclusion, actively working with communities to build a more equitable future, which perfectly aligns with the mission of the BCA. We believe BrandNu's talent and experience will be beneficial during this next phase. ”
“This is an incredible opportunity to help shape the design of a new museum that will feature African American art and become a community hub within a revitalized Bronzeville,” said Ford. “This world-class museum will both represent the rich history of the neighborhood and forecast its future.”
The 50,000-square-foot museum is expected to host exhibitions, education programs and “immersive” artistic programming for audiences of all ages.
BCA is hosting a Hip Hop Architecture Camp t Gallery 507 during Bronzeville Week, which runs through Aug. 10, offering local youth a week-long intensive architecture, urban planning, and creative placemaking experience, “through the lens of hip hop culture.”
To learn more about the Bronzeville Center for the Arts, visit bcamke.org.
For more on BrandNu Design, go to brandnudesign.com.
A timeline for groundbreaking, completion and opening of the museum has not yet been announced, but BCA's goal is to open by 2028.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
