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
| Dec 9, 2012
Modular classroom building makes the grade
SAGE modular classroom opens eyes, minds at Greenbuild 2012.
| Dec 9, 2012
14 great solutions
Welcome to the third installment of Building Design+Construction’s “Great Solutions,” highlighting 14 innovative technologies and products that you can put to work in your next project.
| Dec 9, 2012
AEC professionals cautiously optimistic about commercial construction in ’13
Most economists say the U.S. is slowly emerging from the Great Recession, a view that was confirmed to some extent by an exclusive survey of 498 BD+C subscribers whose views we sought on the commercial construction industry’s outlook on business prospects for 2013.
| Dec 7, 2012
Structural glazing sealant protects solar-rooftop stadium in Taiwan
Designers of the Kaohsiung World Games Main Stadium in Gaoxiong, Taiwan, powered by almost 9,000 rooftop solar panels, required an effective panel fixing design offering optimum energy transfer rate, plus thermal and weathertight performance. Dow Corning specialists recommended a four-sided structural sealant solution featuring Dow Corning 983 Structural Glazing Sealant.
| Dec 6, 2012
Ziegler Cooper names Soto as Director of Design, Broadens Design Capabilities
Soto will oversee design efforts, bringing a high level of quality and problem solving capabilities through active engagement with clients and studios firm wide.
| Dec 5, 2012
Gilbane publishes Winter 2012 construction economic report
Report outlines impact of recent events; predicts continued movement, while slow, toward recovery.
| Dec 5, 2012
Gehry-designed New York City tower receives Emporis Skyscraper Award
8 Spruce Street is now the third New York tower to win the Emporis Skyscraper Award.
| Dec 4, 2012
MKK’s Denver Human Services Eastside Building wins ACEC Excellence Award
MKK provided mechanical, plumbing and fire protection consulting services on this LEED-NC Gold project.
| Dec 4, 2012
Thornton Tomasetti opens new office in São Paulo, Brazil
The move to São Paulo is strategic and timely, as the country continues preparations for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.