Quinn Evans Associate Carolina Uechi, AIA, reflects on her experience working with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino on the Molina Family Latino Gallery—a space dedicated to sharing how American Latinos have shaped the nation—located at the National Museum of American History.

With authenticity and collaboration at the core, Carolina helped bring the vision to life by working closely with the team to design a gallery that celebrates Latino culture through artifact displays and immersive digital experiences.

Connected by Design: Authentic Representation

Video Transcript

CAROLINA UECHI

I worked on the Molina Family Latino Gallery. We worked with a wonderful client, the National Museum of the American Latino at the Smithsonian, and it's the first dedicated space to tell stories about American Latinos and how their contribution to this country shaped the nation, which is part of history. It is part of US history, but it's not always very well disseminated or understood.

So, to be an architect in a project, working with other Latinos, having that representation at every scale and every discipline that goes into architecture and gallery and museum design, was amazing to me because it just showed that representation really matters when you want to aim for authentic products.

And you know, for me, I got to take my family there. I got to show it to my friends. Everybody that I go with comes out learning something about that history, feeling a connection to that history, being excited about any little part of it that they didn't know. And that to me is like the most enriching thing I could be proud of.