Maine Maritime Academy chose Platz Associates as the architects and engineers for this unique building sited on the waterfront in Castine Maine. The program called for a two story building to be placed on the water side of Water Street. Proximity to the water was necessary to service boats, but the public insisted that the building not block views or access to the waterfront. This criteria resulted in a design which used the rooftop of the building as a public plaza which in fact increased the amount of land available on the waterfront for public use. Views from the road approaching the water were left unobstructed.

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Included in the program for the building was a lecture hall, classrooms, sailing locker rooms, harbormaster’s office, simulator rooms, visiting crew bunkrooms, and a maintenance room capable of taking a 90 foot long vessel completely inside the building. In addition to this building, an open storage shed with six bays capable of taking twenty foot boats was built into the earthen bank.

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Construction of the building so close to the road required an earthen tie back wall which was the largest designed and built in Maine at that time. As part of the innovative building design, Platz Associates designed a passive trombe wall at the south side of the maintenance shop to provide heat for the project. This wall is the major heat source for the air system in the building.