The Newark Community Museum will stand at a flashpoint in history – the infamous police precinct where a rebellion began. Before any bricks can be laid, Roger Smith, adjunct professor at the NJIT Hillier College of Architecture and Design and design director at Gensler, was called on to lead the design process. At a press conference in July, Smith showed an eager audience a glimpse of Gensler’s conceptual renderings.
The former 4th Police Precinct, now dilapidated with the vibe of an enemy shipwreck, is seen in renderings as the vestigial brick structure wrapped in three floors of cantilevered steel mesh boxes. It’s base, currently a vacant, overgrown lot, opens into a lush plaza with a fountain and trees representing lives lost in 1967. The existing brick structure will be converted into galleries and will house the city’s newest department – the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery. The new structure will have a café and open meeting spaces.
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“The museum serves a dual purpose. It preserves the collective memory of the community through exhibitions highlighting Newark’s history of activism against racial injustice. It’s also a place for healing, where people can learn conflict resolution and violence prevention,” said Smith. “The new design embraces the original building in a dialogue about a traumatic past and a more hopeful future. As a counterpoint to the original police precinct’s traditional solid wall, the new addition is meant to be open and inviting with a strong sense of transparency.”
For Smith, the museum unveiling culminates years of architecture practice and teaching. He centered the museum design in the spring semester studio for undergraduates at the Hillier College of Architecture and Design. Smith, who took cues from several community listening sessions throughout the city, noticed that his students, who skewed younger, were averse to the idea of a static, stuffy museum.
“What was said … is that it should be an exciting space, an interactive place that should utilize technology. It should be about telling our stories, but should also be exciting and engaging,” said Smith.
"We're bringing back The Milk Bar!"
With more input, Smith saw the spirit of community gathering had long been embodied in local hangouts like The Milk Bar that sold milkshakes, burgers and hot dogs, but was lost to a fire in 1967. So, when he told the crowd at the press conference, “We’re bringing back The Milk Bar,” cheers erupted.
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“One of the most important ways of thinking about architecture today is to consider how design connects communities,” said Smith. “The initial vision came from the mayor and his desire to showcase the history of activism in Newark and the folks that were involved in the Newark Rebellion. It’s also a response to social injustice that has a long history and that is at the forefront of recent protests across the country.”
For the city of Newark, the unveiling is the culmination of generations of struggle and stigma. The idea for a nonviolent means of conflict resolution is intrinsic in Newark. But now, elected city officials have allocated 5% of its budget to the creation of the museum and the new city office.
“Ras Baraka, son of Amina and Amiri Baraka, had all the reasons in the world to believe that there was something called justice and it could be attained,” said Newark City Historian Junius Williams. “But that justice is a product of struggle. We had to struggle against injustice for justice and he recognized that if we are to have a full-bodied healthy community without violence, we must look at some of these stories and find our place to pick up where others have left off.”
“We understood that public safety is a community event and not solely a police matter,” said Baraka. “We all have the responsibility to create a safe public.”
The museum is still in conceptual design stages and plans will continue to evolve as budgets are sorted and the city gets other institutions involved. Artifacts and exhibitions are yet to be determined, as is an opening date.
Curriculum for community
Smith's proposal last year to center the design studio around the Newark Community Museumcame later than usual to the desk of Gernot Riether, director of the Hillier College of Architecture and Design.
“These projects emerge from larger political discussions. Since the project is so driven by social justice issues, we prioritized it and did everything to make it work,” said Riether. “Issues like this drive studio curriculum and we are trying to do everything in architecture to connect the design studio process to real world issues.”
The design studio at NJIT presents a big opportunity for students. Proximity to a dynamic city with big ideas helps them learn to interact with a community, city officials, and a diverse range of stakeholders, especially on a project with so much cultural and political significance.
“At a research university, we can connect students to local issues and the local community in ways an engineering firm or other colleges can’t." - Gernot Riether
“At a research university, we can connect students to local issues and the local community in ways an engineering firm or other colleges can’t,” said Riether. “This project proves these interactions really happen.”
This isn’t NJIT’s first rodeo. The Hillier College of Architecture and Design’s “Newark Design Collaborative'' has fingerprints all over the city. One design studio focused solely on the Essex County Jail Preservation project, which adapts the jail for public recreation. The school also helped design the Lincoln Park Music District, a mixed-use neighborhood across from Newark’s Symphony Hall, and submitted design proposals for the future of Newark’s historic South Commons. They've even created a 3D model of Newark for use in community forums.
Roger Smith’s first project as a professional architect was the Newark Museum of Art and he is now working on redesigning the Gateway Center across from Newark Penn Station to better connect surrounding neighborhoods to the business district. The original Gateway Center, announced shortly after the ‘67 Rebellion, was designed to bypass the street and surrounding community. Enclosed pedestrian bridges now connect offices directly to the train station.
“The result was that it disconnected commuters from the street and the life of the city,” said Smith. “The new design creates a completely new relationship to the city. It creates a new grand public entrance and new retail at the street level while enhancing the human experience. Projects like these have the power to repair the fabric of the city and to reimagine how design can serve community. It’s all about designing cities for people and building a more equitable future for all of us.”
