Nine years after the Museum of Maritime and Seafood Industry in Biloxi, Miss., was damaged by Hurricane Katrina’s 30-foot tidal surge, the museum reopened its doors to the public in a brand new, H3-designed building on August 1.
The $7 million, 19,580-sf museum houses 10,000 sf of exhibits and gallery spaces, meeting rooms, a production shop, administrative areas, and storage. It is a final milestone representing six years of effort by the city, the museum, and the H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture design team.
Leading the project was Biloxi-native Daria Pizzetta, H3 Partner-in-Charge. “Everything I knew as a child is gone,” Pizzetta says, whose grandmother donated much of the family’s maritime memorabilia to the museum just weeks before the hurricane. “This project [was] more than designing a museum, it’s rebuilding the heritage of my Gulf Coast hometown,” he said.
The materials used in the design of the museum are locally sourced and make reference to the Point Cadet neighborhood. The design itself mimics the seafood factories that were once housed in the neighborhood, incorporating a white clapboard patter, corrugated tin roofs, and open front porches. The building’s porch structures, as well as interior wood detailing, make reference to coastal wooden pier structures.
The building’s elevation meets Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements for constructing within a Coastal A flood plain.
A museum's premier artifact is the sloop Nydia, built in Biloxi in 1896. Nydia measures 30 feet long and 40 feet high, and is the focal point of the gallery that was designed around it. The use of glass as the primary enclosure of the main gallery creates a “ship in a bottle” effect, letting the Nydia be visible from the exterior.
Related Stories
Architects | Apr 20, 2016
Bill Hellmuth named HOK’s new CEO
Hellmuth has been HOK's President since 2005. The firm will be led by a design principal for the first time since 1990.
Libraries | Apr 18, 2016
Best in Library Design: AIA names seven projects 2016 Library Building Awards winners
Snøhetta’s Ryerson University student center and the Billings (Mont.) Public Library by Will Bruder+Partners highlight the seven winning projects.
Architects | Apr 14, 2016
You can watch over 50 architectural documentaries on YouTube for free
The Arts & Culture Bureau YouTube channel offers architectural documentaries about structures and works that span thousands of years and dozens of locations
Senior Living Design | Apr 14, 2016
Creating a home for eldercare using the ‘Green House’ design concept
VOA Associates’ Douglas King offers design considerations in implementing the Green House concept in eldercare for continuing care retirement communities.
Industrial Facilities | Apr 13, 2016
Ford begins 10-year plan to centralize Dearborn, Mich., campus
The company said that it will rebuild 7.5 million sf of work space over a 10-year period, which will shift 30,000 employees from 70 buildings now into two primary locations.
Building Tech | Apr 12, 2016
Should we be worried about a tech slowdown?
Is the U.S. in an innovative funk, or is this just the calm before the storm?
Multifamily Housing | Apr 7, 2016
Multifamily and Specialized Housing projects honored in 2016 AIA Housing Awards
A San Francisco low-income mixed-use complex, a Los Angeles homeless veterans housing facility, and a series of student residential buildings at UMass were among the winners.
Green | Apr 4, 2016
AIA report analyzes 20 years of the best green projects
"Lessons from the Leading Edge" is a study of the 200 Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award winning projects since 1997.
Architects | Apr 1, 2016
Adrian Smith earns UIC’s Legacies and Leaders Award
The Chicago architect graduated from the school and created a scholarship for aspiring architects.
Architects | Mar 31, 2016
Zaha Hadid dies at 65
Often credited as being a pioneer for women architects for her work in a male-dominated field, Hadid had designs commissioned around the world from London to Hong Kong to Cincinnati.