With a collection of over 250,000 historic photographs and artifacts of agrarian and maritime culture of the Oregon Coast, the Coos History Museum and Maritime Collection had outgrown its previous home.
In 2000, a grant initiated a search for a new facility, but the grant stipulated the new museum be located on Highway 101 to provide a development catalyst for the historic wharf at Coos Bay. The museum’s new site is on the wharf at the gateway to Coos Bay with historic docks on the east, a cove to the south, and the historic roadway to the west. A future development will eventually rise to the north.
The goal for the design of the museum, which bridges the history of the region through stories of the Coos and Coquille Tribes, coal miners, loggers, farmers, and shipbuilders, was to create a building that paid tribute to the past while serving as a beacon for change along the waterfront.
Â
Photo courtesy of Signal Architecture & Research.
Â
The resulting building has a simple barnlike form inspired by waterfront industrial facilities. A light well pierces the barn-shaped volume and provides a visual cue for circulation, stairs, and a central focal point from highway 101. A gift shop, multi-purpose space, and a large gallery are located on the ground floor. The second floor is dedicated to staff and volunteer offices, boardrooms, archives, and travelling gallery mezzanine. A stair tower serves as a repository for tall exhibits that require a 40-foot-tall exhibit space.
Miller Hull Partnership was the Architect of Record for the project and Signal Architecture & Research was the Project Design Lead.
Related Stories
| Sep 11, 2013
BUILDINGChicago eShow Daily – Day 3 coverage
Day 3 coverage of the BUILDINGChicago/Greening the Heartland conference and expo, taking place this week at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza.
| Sep 10, 2013
BUILDINGChicago eShow Daily – Day 2 coverage
The BD+C editorial team brings you this real-time coverage of day 2 of the BUILDINGChicago/Greening the Heartland conference and expo taking place this week at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza.
| Aug 26, 2013
What you missed last week: Architecture billings up again; record year for hotel renovations; nation's most expensive real estate markets
BD+C's roundup of the top construction market news for the week of August 18 includes the latest architecture billings index from AIA and a BOMA study on the nation's most and least expensive commercial real estate markets.Â
| Aug 22, 2013
Energy-efficient glazing technology [AIA Course]
This course discuses the latest technological advances in glazing, which make possible ever more efficient enclosures with ever greater glazed area.
| Aug 21, 2013
First look: Petersen Automotive Museum's dramatic facelift
One of the world's largest automotive museums unveils plans for a stunning, sculptured metal exterior and cutting-edge interior upgrades.Â
| Aug 14, 2013
Green Building Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.Â
| Jul 29, 2013
2013 Giants 300 Report
The editors of Building Design+Construction magazine present the findings of the annual Giants 300 Report, which ranks the leading firms in the AEC industry.
| Jul 26, 2013
How biomimicry inspired the design of the San Francisco Museum at the Mint
When the city was founded in the 19th century, the San Francisco Bay’s edge and marshland area were just a few hundred feet from where the historic Old Mint building sits today. HOK's design team suggested a design idea that incorporates lessons from the local biome while creating new ways to collect and store water.
| Jul 22, 2013
Cultural Facility Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from cultural facility projects, as reported in the 2013 Giants 300 Report.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
URS, STV, Wiss Janney Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.