IDI CONSTRUCTION COMPANY WINS THE AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND INTERPRETIVE CENTER
DESIGN COMPETITION

For Immediate Release
Press Contact:  Elizabeth Geary-Archer
(212) 726-8512, [log in to unmask]

Congressman Charles Rangel announced the winning team, lead by IDI
Construction Company, Inc., that will design and build an interpretive center
for the African Burial Ground at a press conference held by the General
Services Administration on March 13, 2000.  The African Burial Ground is
located at 290 Broadway, New York City, just one block away from City Hall.
"The IDI design/build team plays an important part in restoring the history
of the only group of people brought to this country by force.  And yet, in
spite of all the hardships, these same people have played an extremely
important role in building America." stated Congressman Rangel, Ways and
Means Committee Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  "The ABG
Interpretive Center design provides an opportunity to reveal a legacy we can
be proud of." said the Congressman.

On April 6th, 2000 the General Services Administration delivered a "Notice to
Proceed" to the recently selected team lead by IDI Construction Company
(IDI).  "We are honored to be selected as the prime contractor for this
unique project.  We are aware of the importance of the Interpretive Center to
the community and the role it will play in telling the story of New York
City's African Burial Ground.  IDI and its team is committed to working with
GSA to produce a first-class Interpretive Center" states Mr. Trevor Prince,
Executive Vice President of IDI Construction Company, Inc.

"We want this interpretive center to be a ground-breaking exhibition," said
Museum Studies Professor Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, one of the team selection
committee members constracted by GSA for the project.  "The
historical/anthropological scholarship skills of the IDI team are excellent.
We have great confidence in the team and we think the final design is going
to be fabulous!" Sylvia Harris, a selection committee member who teaches
exhibit design at Yale University is enthusiastic about IDI's design.  "The
look of the design is very stylish, polished and modern with a lot of
afro-centric touches.  We thought an ethnic/modern approach to the design was
a great choice."

The winning team is made up of a multi-disciplinary group of professionals
who bring enthusiasm, passion and expertise to their fields.  The architect
and designers include Jacqueline Hamilton, RA, Paula Griffith, RA, Atim
Annette Oton and Jasper Whyte.  The office of Hardie & Associates will
provide engineering services.  The research group includes Dr. A.J.
William-Myers, a historian at SUNY New Paltz and Dr. Lee D. Baker, an
anthropologist at Duke University.  The curator and exhibition designer is
Deirdre A. Scott.  Experienced in the fields of art, culture and
technology, Ms. Scott will produce the exhibition multimedia installations
along with Kinetic Media, Inc., a multimedia and Computer-Aided-Design
firm.  Phillipe Bailey, an artist and furniture designer, will provide
artistic and fabrication review.  Elizabeth Geary-Archer will provide
marketing and PR services.  The IDICC Project Manager for the African Burial
Ground Interpretive Center will be Saleem Khatri, RA.

The IDI team's primary concept for the African Burial Ground Interpretive
center is "journey", which symbolizes the physical movement and cultural
dispersals defining the African "Diaspora".  This journey unfolds in four
phases:  birth, maturity, death and rebirth.  These four phases are
represented architecturally in four learning spaces:  Orientation, Studio,
Transformation and Reclamation.  "Among the elements that most attracted us
to IDI's design was its youthfulness and abundance of fresh ideas." stated
Dr. Howard Dodson, the Chief at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture in Harlem who was on the Interpretive Center's selection committee to
pick the winning design team.  "The design for the Interpretive Center
must command the attention of the next generation."  Dr. Dodson advises the
IDI team to "take your time and create a world-class Interpretive Center.  Do
it for the ancestors so their story can be told."

The African Burial Ground, used during the 1700's, was long forgotten at the
time of its re-discovery in 1991 during the pre-construction survey for the
Foley Courthouse.  A group Black New Yorkers worked with politicians
including Mayor David Dinkins, Senator David Patterson and Congressman
Augustus Savage to make sure that the discovery would not slip into oblivion.
 A public law was passed by congress appropriating $3 million to assure that
a portion of the site would be reserved for a proper memorialization of the
African Burial Ground.

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The IDI Design/Build Project Team for the African Burial Ground Interpretive
Center

The IDI Design/Build Project Team is organized into four groups: the design
collaborative, the exhibit and multimedia group, the research team and the
construction division.

The Design Team:  Architect/Designers

Jaqueline Hamilton R.A. - "The ABGIC project is a chance to bring a piece
of history to light, to shape the future and to give thanks to our ancestors.
 As I work on this project, I'll be thinking of my mother who passed away but
who would be so proud of what we are doing.  I am humbled by the importance
of the task at hand and honored to be involved."  Ms. Hamilton is a
Registered Architect with a Bachelor degree in Architecture from City
College.  She has worked on Retail Design, Interior Design, Hotel Renovation
and Commercial projects with IBM, Flack and Kurtz Engineers; and SD-HTI.  She
also has done Real Estate Management with the New York City General Services
Administration.

Atim Annette Oton - "Winning the ABGIC meant a confirmation of the strengths
of design-build process - collaborative work with a multi-disciplinary team
is not just feasible, but both rewarding and productive.  It means connecting
the circle of my African, American and Caribbean roots; and most critical,
paying homage to the ancestors by creating a first-class interpretive center.
I bring to the process my instinctive creativity and imagination as a
designer with the level headedness of my business experience in architecture,
construction and design-build collaborations."
 Ms. Oton is the founder and Principal for A2EO Design-Build Collaborative,
the Executive Vice President of Blacklines Magazine, and the Founder of The
Black Think Tank.  She holds an AA Graduate Diploma from the Architectural
Association in London; a Bachelor of Architecture from City College of New
York and a Certificate from the Ecole d'Art des Beaux Arts, Fountainebleau,
France.

Paula Griffith R.A. - "In telling the stories of those buried at the site, we
will share with the world how people of African descent have persistence,
tenacity and the ability to survive."  As an entrepreneur, Ms. Griffith
co-founded and is a Partner at Kinetic Media Inc., an integrated graphics
firm serving the design and construction industry.  She is a Registered
Architect with a Bachelor degree in Architecture from City College.  She is
an expert in advanced CADD operation and management.  Ms.
Griffith has worked on a variety of building project types including
commercial, renovation, and entertainment from schematic through construction
administration phases.

Jasper Whyte - "As a Black person from the Caribbean, it is important to me
that the ABGIC will provide a learning hub for my family and community where
they go and can feel the joy and pain of the story of the African Burial
Ground."  Mr. Whyte attended City College and has two Bachelors of Science,
one in Architecture and one in Landscape Architecture. He is currently a
Project Manager for Slattery Skanska, a construction company in Queens, NY.

Elliott Hardie - is the president of Hardie & Associates Engineers and has
over 25 years of experience.  The firm provides mechanical, electrical,
plumbing, life safety and fire protection engineering services.  HAE was
founded in 1981 and was a sub-consultant to HOK's engineer for the Foley
Square Courthouse Building.

Phillipe Bailey - is a sculptor, furniture maker, artist and professor.  He
was the owner for Maiastra Ltd., founded in 1974 to produce sculpture,
furniture design and fabrication, architectural woodwork, display
architecture, museum installation, corporate and residential casework.

The Exhibit Design and Multimedia Team

Deirdre A. Scott  - as the team Curator, Deirdre is serving three roles
within the ABGIC design team:  the Multimedia Team Leader, the Exhibit
Designer and a member of the Research Team.  "The Interpretive Center is an
incredible opportunity and I am delighted to be involved with bringing a
hidden part of New York history to light.  This project is a culmination of
areas I've worked on in the past including sharing historical and aesthetic
information in a number of ways and involving the audience in the process of
learning."  Deirdre Scott has more than sixteen years experience at
institutions as diverse as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum
of the Arts, Cooper-Hewitt - The Smithsonian Institutions National Design
Museum, and The Studio Museum in Harlem.  She has directed and produced
numerous educational programs, exhibitions, and innovative audience
development projects.  Presently, she teaches curatorship at New School
University, New York, and is guest curating special exhibition projects at
The Studio Museum in Harlem. Ms. Scott's entrepreneurial endeavors focus on
idea and audience development for the arts.  Among her current enterprises is
Design Police, The Art Shuttle, and a consortium of web-based art sites,
which include Colophon Page, Design-Police, Photoarts, ConnoisseurWeb (all
dot.coms), and The Art Shuttle (dot.org).

Kinetic Media Inc. - Incorporated in 1995, Kinetic Media Inc. specializes in
Digital Document Production and Management for Design, Construction and
Building Management Professionals.  Services include:  Multi-media
Presentations; Computer Specification, Purchasing and Training; Computer
Aided Facilities Management; Computer Aided Drafting and 3D Visualization.
Kinetic Media is lead by three partners, Paula Griffith, Antonio Cox and
Stephan Carriglio.

Elizabeth Geary-Archer, Out of the Box Marketing - "My job is to expose this
story of discovery and interpretation to our present day community and the
world at large." Elizabeth Geary-Archer will provide marketing and PR support
for the team.  She has a degree in architecture from the NY Institute of
Technology.  Ms. Geary-Archer is a Partner at Out of the Box Marketing, a New
York City based marketing and PR firm servicing the design, construction and
new media industries.

The Research Team

The research team will be a core unit made up of an Anthropologist and a
Historian, and the team Exhibition Curator, Dierdre A. Scott.  The African
Burial Ground Office of Public Education and Interpretation will be a strong
resource to the research team.
Anthropologist:  Dr. Lee D. Baker, Ph.D., Duke University - "The African
Burial Ground Interpretive Center project is very special because we have a
chance to give voice and humanity to the African presence in the Americas.
The content of the Center will challenge the general assumption that enslaved
Africans only existed in the southern part of the country.  The realities and
issues that make up the project represent the three parts of anthropology:
archeology, biological anthropology and cultural anthropology.  I'm very
honored to be working with Dr. Blakey and Dr.
Wilson on this assignment."  Dr. Baker has been a long-time participant in
the African Burial Ground project.  He often works with OPEI/ABG by speaking
at events or reviewing documents.  He taught a course at Columbia University
focusing on the ABG, its history, its archeology and its current political
effect on the community. He is currently an Associate Professor of Cultural
Anthropology at Duke University and was formerly a Professor at Columbia
University's Anthropology and African Studies program.  He received a Ph.D.
in Anthropology from Temple University, a B.S. in
Anthropology from Portland State University and a Certificate in Africana
Studies from the University of Ghana-Legon in Africa.

Historian:  Dr. A.J. Williams-Myers, Ph.D., State University of New York at
New Paltz - "The stories that we tell will speak to the essence of who our
buried ancestors were and, in turn who we are today.  Their journey has
brought us to where we, as their descendants, are now -- one of the most
powerful group of people in the world."  Doctor Williams-Myers is currently a
History Professor at the Black Studies Department at SUNY New Paltz.  He has
written several books and publications focusing on the presence of Africans
in early New York history and has lectured extensively.  He sits on the New
York State University Board of Regents and is active in several other civic
and academic groups.  He received his Ph.D. from UCLA.

The Construction Team

The Construction division is managed by IDI Construction Company.  IDICC is
the key fabricator and builder of the project.  Executive Vice President,
Trevor Prince, oversees the entire project and Saleem Khatri is the Project
Manager for construction.

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