Rendered Visible: The Black Architectural Imagination brings together the vast array of visual material created by Black architects and architectural designers. The book’s large-scale images explore the “Black architectural imagination” through drawings, watercolors, collages, computer generated images, travel sketches, and more. With its rich visual format, introductory essays by leading scholars and practitioners, extended captions about featured images, and statements from architects and designers, Rendered Visible presents new vistas into Black creativity. Much of the included material has never been seen before, outside of architectural firms. The book recognizes architectural history as part of African American history and makes the case for seeing architectural drawings as part of Black visual culture. Using visually stimulating images as a point of entry, Rendered Visible is designed to attract multidisciplinary audiences and inspire Black students and anyone with little exposure to architectural design to learn about and potentially pursue careers in the field.

Michelle Joan Wilkinson is the supervisory curator of architecture and design at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Wilkinson cocurated two inaugural exhibitions at NMAAHC: A Century in the Making: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond. She organized and presented at the Museum’s symposium, Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now. Wilkinson has curated over twenty exhibitions and authored numerous essays on art and architecture. Alongside curators from Cooper Hewitt, she cocurated Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial (2024–25). Wilkinson’s books include Making Home: Belonging, Memory, and Utopia in the 21st Century and For Whom It Stands: The Flag and the American People. Wilkinson holds a bachelor’s of arts from Bryn Mawr College and a PhD from Emory University. She was a 2020 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 as “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened its doors on September 24, 2016, as the 19th Smithsonian museum. It stands on four pillars: 1.) It provides an opportunity for those who are interested in African American culture to explore and revel in this history through interactive exhibitions. 2.) It helps all Americans see how their stories, their histories, and their cultures are shaped and informed by global influences. 3.) It explores what it means to be an American and share how American values like resiliency, optimism, and spirituality are reflected in African American history and culture. 4.) It serves as a place of collaboration that reaches beyond Washington, DC to engage new audiences and to work with the myriad of museums and educational institutions that have explored and preserved this important history well before this museum was created.