Visitors on the floating dock will learn about Providence, the first ship authorized by Continental Navy for the Continental Congress, in this Interactive Experience on Water.
National interdisciplinary design firm HGA is pleased to announce the completion of the Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center: Home Port of Tall Ship Providence, a floating museum for the Tall Ship Providence Foundation (TSPF) in Alexandria, Va.
TSPF is a 501(c)(3) educational organization formed in August 2017 by business leaders based in Alexandria, Va. Its mission is to educate visitors on the role the Continental Navy played in the American Revolution using Tall Ship Providence as its anchor. HGA led the design of the Maritime Heritage Center, including the architecture and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements, barge mechanical, barge electrical, and barge plumbing.
Together, Providence and the Maritime Heritage Center will serve as a floating interactive classroom, educating visitors and showcasing Alexandria’s history as a port city.
Urban Design
The Maritime Heritage Center is in the heart of Old Town Alexandria in front of Waterfront Park—just south of the foot of King Street, one of the notable walking streets that meets the Potomac River in Alexandria. The north and south portions of Waterfront Park are defined by a generous landscape with large specimen trees where people can gather and enjoy beautiful, shaded views of the Potomac River. The Maritime Heritage Center features a ticket booth, an Education Center, a Naval History Theater, a Gift Shop, and an observation deck.
Functional Layout and Interior Design Transports Visitors Back to 1776
Providence tour guides in period dress transport visitors back in time to 1776 to experience an interactive tour. Visitors “make their mark” as their tour starts and for the first two thirds of the tour are in the Continental Navy. Tour guides, aka, fellow sailors, lead the “newest recruits” through a one-hour interactive experience where they see where they will live, sleep and work and meet Captain John Paul Jones. The last third of the tour transports visitors back to today when they enter the Naval History Theater for a film, “Providence: Dawn of the U.S. Navy.” The Education Center and Naval History Theater hold 24 visitors each and the entire dock will serve as a venue for special events for 120 attendees.
Additional features include a public designated area on the dock. During inclement weather a full tent system will be deployed.
The interior designs are minimal, dominated by wood shiplap, meant to evoke dockside support building of the 18th century, allowing visitors to daydream and time travel. A vaulted ceiling and broad glazing in the Education Center celebrate and reveal Tall Ship Providence. At the end of the tour, guests exit through the museum store, which uses bright, fresh materials and clean lines.
Engineering Design Specifics and Challenges
- Civil Engineering: The terms of the franchise agreement between the City and the Tall Ship Providence Foundation required the on-shore utility systems that support the on-water Maritime Heritage Center be located and routed outside the boundaries of Waterfront Park. This requirement avoids conflicts with the City’s on-going flood mitigation project that is intended to address climate change due to the rising Potomac River and increased frequency of rainfall events. One key element was the integration of a utility corridor along bulkhead fronting Waterfront Park. This utility corridor system had to integrate with the existing structure, accommodate frequent inundation and protection from floating debris, and remain functional during freezing conditions using a heat trace system.
- Maritime Structural Engineering: Anchoring the custom barge system was accomplished through a series of steel piles that were designed based on a complex mooring system analysis of the dock coupled with mooring of Providence. The piles had to be located landward of the USACE regulatory “pierhead” line. Specific structural elements were developed for the anchoring system as well as the articulating gangway system.
- Mechanical Engineering: The HVAC systems for the visitor center were designed to be cost effective and energy efficient while being as unobtrusive to the space itself as possible. Due to the nature of the floating facility limiting the utilities that could run on the gangway, the systems relied on an all-electric Variable Refrigerant Volume HVAC solution. The plumbing systems for the Visitor Center were intended to give the feel of an on-land facility while operating on the dock. To achieve this, flexible couplings that allow the normal tidal rise and fall of the barge were incorporated into the piping that runs under the gangway to the utility bulkhead on shore.
- Electrical Engineering: Local panels provide power to each of the Maritime Heritage Center cottages, allowing full A/V functionality in the gathering space. A shore power system was included on the dock to connect the ship to the electric utility when docked.
HGA worked closely with the following agencies to develop the Center:
- City of Alexandria, Planning Zoning
- City of Alexandria, Building
- Washington DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
- Federal Aviation Administration
- United States Army Corps of Engineers
- Virginia Department of Environment Quality
Design Team Partners:
- HGA: Architecture, Barge Mechanical, Barge Electrical, Barge Plumbing
- Adtek Engineers Inc.: Barge Structural
- Moffatt & Nichol: Maritime Structural Engineer, Site Civil
- CM Advisors: Construction Manager
- Cianbro: Construction Team
About HGA
HGA is an acclaimed national interdisciplinary design firm committed to making a positive, lasting impact for our clients and communities through research-based, holistic solutions. We believe that great design requires a sense of curiosity—forming deep insight into our clients, their contexts, and the human condition. We are a collective of over 1,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, planners, researchers, and strategists. Our practice spans multiple markets, including corporate, cultural, education, local and federal government, healthcare, and science and technology. Visit HGA.com or follow on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
