In 2007 our country celebrated the Quadricentennial anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English Settlement in the New World. To prepare for this major national and international event, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (JYF) determined to rebuild it’s education center, visitor center, theater, museum and supporting facilities. Jamestown is a living history museum site which displays reproductions of the three original ships the settlers used to reach the New World, the original Jamestown Fort, and an Indian village typical of the type found when the settlers arrived in 1607. The Museum opened in 1957 (the 350th anniversary of Jamestown) and had completely outgrown the facilities built for that celebration. JYF was committed to its current site. To replace and expand it’s current facilities, building locations needed to be where buildings were originally. Therefore, a phased construction was envisioned that would sequentially remove and rebuild new facilities over the footprint of the original. The phases are as follows:
Phase I – Education Building
Phase II –Visitor Reception and Café Building
Phase III – Theater and Changing Galleries
Phase IV – Permanent Galleries
Phases I and II were constructed in 1999 and 2002 respectively. Phase III, presented here, was designed as part of the Phase III and IV expansions. Phase IV is currently under construction. The Jamestown Theater, Special Exhibition Hall and Exhibition Galleries includes a 250-seat auditorium, 100-seat multimedia room and 30,000 square feet of permanent and changing gallery space and support areas. The Phase I building, The Education Building, established a context for a brick building of a particular scale and character. Phase II built on that scheme, matching the scale, but introducing wood into the palette in the form of heavy timber “trees” which support a large sloping roof canopy over the lobby. Phase II also introduced the use of large areas of modular glass units, connecting indoors to outdoors.
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