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| Project Profile - Maine Maritime Academy | |
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PROJECT: Engineering & Boat
Maintenance Facility The Engineering and Boat
Maintenance Facility at Maine Maritime Academy is a series of creative solutions to a
design challenge complicated by the need to combine special purpose programs in a single
facility. Located on the waterfront in Castine, Maine, many local residents were
apprehensive about the Academy placing another building as an obstruction to public
waterfront access. The shorefront road at the site was located thirty feet above the
surface of the water. Taking into account the uniqueness of the site, we were able to work
with the local community and the Academy to achieve a building that met everyone's needs.
The roof of the building was kept level with the surface of Water Street thereby
preserving views to the water. As a bonus to the townspeople the roof of the building was
constructed as an outside plaza thus increasing the amount of public land on the
waterfront. The three tiered rooftop plaza affords majestic river views as well as places
to sit, refreshment areas, and trees and plantings.
Copyright © 2002 |
The lower level of
the building includes a large boat repair shop capable of housing ninety foot long vessels
fully inside. A state of the art welding shop and paint shop feature the latest in air
filtering systems. The upper level of the building houses classrooms, a diesel simulator,
lecture halls, sail rooms, bunk rooms, and the Harbor Master's office. The facility stands
out as model project in terms of its sensitivity to environmental concerns. The south
facing wall of the building incorporates one of the largest solar collectors in the State.
The air heated in this collector is mixed with air heated conventionally to lower
dependence on fossil fuels. The thirty foot high retaining wall which holds back Water
Street was the first of its design in Maine. A glass atrium joins the facility to the
Academy's original Science Center.