SPRINGBOARD and Overton Associates to Collaborate on New Railroad Museum
Friday, June 5th, 2009SPRINGBOARD’s Museum Architecture Team (M.A.T.) won a commission to design a new Railroad Museum and Festival Hall in Elkins, West Virginia. Winning over eight other multi-disciplinary teams, SPRINGBOARD’s partners include Overton & Associates (Design/Build), R.W.Larson Associates (Architecture), and Schultz & Williams (Market Feasibility/Fundraising).
This Randolph County Development Authority project will be composed of a multi-use complex located on the site of the historic Western Maryland Railroad Roundhouse and will be connected to a 100 mile long, state-owned railroad line. The Mountain State Forest Festival will host its annual festival in a new related Festival Hall that will be designed to attract trade shows and conventions to Elkins.
The Conceptual Design and Project Feasibility process begins in June, 2009, and will be completed by September.
The first phase of SPRINGBOARD’s plans include the National Aviary’s new ‘Penguins Point’ and a dramatically renovated Main Hall. Attendance doubled last year’s Memorial Day weekend numbers as the public ‘flocked’ to see the National Aviary’s newest residents and dynamic new public space. The new $2.7 million immersive indoor/outdoor exhibit and renovated Main Hall featuring interactive touch-screens and other displays represents the first phase of SPRINGBOARD’s National Aviary Master Plan to be implemented. The next phase, the $7 million ‘FliteZone Theater’ is scheduled to break ground this fall.