African Burial Ground and Interpretive Center
SBI helped to create a profoundly moving memorial that honors this historically significant National Landmark, the largest and oldest African cemetery excavated in North America.
SBI Consultants provided Technical and Advisory solutions to Parsons Brinkerhoff for the construction of the African Burial Ground Memorial, a riveting monument that honors the African Americans who were found buried in a six-acre Colonial-era grave site in Lower Manhattan.
Completed in 2007, the Memorial was designed to educate and inspire visitors with a 24-foot high shell-shaped monument named the Ancestral Libation Chamber that symbolizes the soaring African spirit and a sunken court that slopes six feet below street level.
SBI Consultant’s role in this landmark project began with an evaluation of five design competitions for the monument, followed by technical and advisory services that included constructability, availability of construction materials, and an assessment of the involved cost and schedule risks that incorporated various site constraints and available services. During construction, SBI assisted the project team with evaluations of scope changes and impacts to completion schedules.
SBI was honored to provide cost engineering expertise for the planning and construction of the African Burial Ground Memorial, a profoundly moving and historically significant place that represents one of the most important archaeological discoveries of our time.