SEEING NAVAL HISTORY IN A NEW WAY

BY DEBRA HAZEL

Founded in 1775 before the United States was in fact the United States, the U.S. Navy has had a long and proud history, preserved and explained since 1961 at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy (NMUSN) at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

The yard originally served as a storage and shipbuilding facility and later evolved into a major industrial plant focusing on the development, construction and testing of naval guns. The site was one of the largest employers in D.C. at the time and led to the creation of a community participating in recreational leagues, parades, air shows, Navy Band concerts, exhibitions and tours of different facets of the site. It became a major administrative center for the Service and was eventually dubbed the “Washington Navy Yard” in 1962.

But as time has passed, the current museum became constrained. Located in an active military facility, it is difficult to visit, and needed expanding and updating, preferably in time for the Navy’s 250th anniversary in October 2025. In October 2022, the Navy announced that a new facility would be created on six acres adjacent to the existing site.

Following the Secretary of the Navy’s October 2022 announcement of the preferred location for the Navy's planned museum, Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) moved forward with its conceptual development phase and then initiated the ideas competition in an effort to explore the full realm of artistic ideas that might be incorporated into a new museum. Project management and owner’s representative firm MGAC conducted a design competition on behalf of the Navy History and Heritage Command (NHHC) to create a larger, more modern and interactive museum, announcing an open request for qualifications across the country. Eighty firms expressed interest in participating and 37 submitted applications. MGAC chose five prominent architecture firms to develop artistic ideas that will provide concepts for the Navy’s new museum campus, including Bjarke Ingels Group, DLR Group, Frank Gehry Partners, Perkins&Will and Quinn Evans.

“These concepts mark an important step in the museum-building process,” said Charles Swift, acting director of the Museum of the United States Navy, who oversaw the competition, in the announcement.

Now in the conceptual stage, the Navy envisions the future museum with greater public access, a new building, a ceremonial courtyard and the potential renovation of existing historical buildings.

“We’re moving beyond the Navy Yard to exhibit the Navy’s history and heritage,” said Rajshree Solanki, senior curator at the museum. “We hope to have the building accessible to the public so it can be used as a ceremonial space, as well."

The Navy’s history will be weaved into each area of the museum’s design, which will be interactive and reflect today’s Navy as well as its history, Solanki continued.

“You might see what sailors are doing on ships, on planes, perhaps looking at a control panel or being on the flight deck and hearing the sounds,” she added.

The Navy leadership has a long-held vision to build a state-of-the-art museum that will create a living memorial to the U.S. Navy’s heritage of victory, valor and sacrifice. It will provide future museum visitors with a greater understanding of the U.S. Navy’s role in the country’s national and economic security. The new NMUSN campus will be an educational, cultural and ceremonial center for all visitors, to include active-duty Sailors, veterans and the public. Solanki and her team have been working with various Navy communities, interviewing aviators, Seabees and families to create the a narrative about daily life.

“We wanted places of contemplation as well, that will allow visitors time to contemplate and collect themselves,” she said.

Since January, the firms developed their unique submissions of conceptual ideas to include a museum entrance, an atrium, a ceremonial courtyard and the incorporation of some of the Navy’s larger artifacts, such as a Corsair aircraft, a Swift Boat and the sail of a submarine. The planned museum campus would consist of approximately 270,000 square feet and will include about 100,000 square feet of net gallery space.

“The concepts unveiled today are a crucial step in exploring what is possible for the new National Museum of the U.S. Navy,” said NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, U.S. Navy rear admiral (retired), in the finalists’ announcement. “We’ll tell the story of the Navy’s history as it continues to unfold, and the ideas developed by our finalists herald a new way of honoring that history by inviting visitors to participate.”

The final canvases from the competition remain on display for public viewing at the Navy's current National Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.