Project Description
FROM AIA VIRGINIA:
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science [VIMS] maintains an
integral presence in the coastal community of Wachapreague, Virginia. For over
40 years, this small town on the Eastern Shore has played host to one of
several satellite campuses that VIMS maintains throughout the state’s various
watersheds. The Wachapreague campus, known as the Eastern Shore Lab [ESL],
features facilities geared specifically towards oceanographic research.
Within the ESL campus, Seaside Hall serves as the on-land
laboratory facility as well as the multi-purpose education hall and lecture
hall. The previous facility to occupy the building site burned down in November
of 2010, and a new facility was quickly needed. The premise supplied for the
new design was as direct as the event causing the need: build a one-for-one
replacement of the previous structure – to be programmatically identical,
maintain a similar footprint, and even reuse the existing foundation.
The design process started with a careful study of the
project setting – the historical context of the town, the technical
requirements of the site, and the growth of an educational campus. Because the
structure is located within the flood plain, the new building was raised significantly
compared to the previous structure. We saw this as an opportunity to accentuate
a beautiful pile structure as well as increase the building’s presence along
the street. A screened porch was added to the original program to support the
client’s desire for usable outdoor space for the students. This new component
became a driving element for the building form and a vehicle for our studies.
Inspiration was drawn from the historic town vernacular – from facade
proportions, to materiality, to screen patterns and roof forms. Contextual
architectural and site cues were therefore not only taken from the Town of
Wachapreague, but from the orientation, proportions, and materiality of the
ESSL. The main entrance stairs to the porch of Seaside Hall align with the entrance
stairs of the ESSL, serving as a transition from the skewed site grid on the
eastern side of street to the orthogonal grid of the Town of Wachapreague on
the western side. The wooden support piers and porch columns on Seaside Hall
provide a visual connection to the ESSL entry trellis, while simultaneously
adding warmth to both structures. Finally, the standing seam roof on the porch
of Seaside Hall not only strengthens the verticality of the porch and its roof
form, but also provides a direct material connection to the ESSL.