Marine Corps museum encourages interaction

by Otesa Middleton Miles
for Virginia Business
October 2006

When the main eatery is called the Mess Hall, it should be no surprise that M-16s, boot camp and life-size aircraft are under the same roof. Instead of passively viewing Marine Corps artifacts under glass cases, the National Museum of the Marine Corps enables visitors to experience Marine life by handling weapons, entering aircraft and feasting at the Mess Hall.

The building, which opens to the public Nov. 13, serves as a tribute to the Marine Corps’ 231-year history. Inspired by the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, the museum’s circular building sits under the flag’s dramatic mast. Protruding 210 feet into the air and weighing 9,800 pounds, the mast is easily visible from Interstate 95 near the Marine Corp base at Quantico.

One of the museum’s interactive exhibits brings patrons to Hill 881 South at Khe Sanh, Vietnam. People enter the area through a helicopter. “Then they come down the back ramp as they enter the landing zone,” says Brig. Gen. Gerald McKay, chief executive officer of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. “It immerses you in the exhibit instead of you standing on the outside looking.” In another nod to realism, the aircraft is manned by life-size bodies molded from Marines. “The cast figures are more than mannequins. They are the faces of actual Marines, sailors and dependents,” says McKay.

The biggest challenge for the project’s 60 subcontractors was building the circular museum and keeping it stationary and wind resistant. “We used a tremendous amount of concrete in the building to make sure it won’t shift,” says McKay. Since the building uses so much glass — two-thirds of an acre — McKay says a model was built first, to conduct wind-tunnel tests to make sure it could withstand winds of up to 100 miles per hour.

The museum is to be “a shrine, a schoolhouse, a memorial,” says Curtis Worth Fentress, principal-in-charge of design for the building’s architectural firm, Fentress Bradburn Architects. Describing the museum’s central gallery in a statement, Fentress says, “This grand space holds numerous large artifacts, including aircraft such as the Harrier jet and amphibious vehicles such as the Higgins boat, as well as the ship-tower-inspired staircase; yet it succeeds in not being overwhelming. ”

With an accessible location in eastern Prince William County, McKay expects the admission-free museum to surpass the 500,000 visitors projected annually. The first phase, which opens next month, depicts World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It also includes a pictorial display which focuses on the current war on terrorism. The next phase, built over the next four years, will go back in time to the Marine Corps founding in 1775 at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern. It will be replicated, and other exhibits will move forward from that time.

The first phase of the 115,000-square-foot public-private venture will cost $87 million, with $1.3 million coming from the commonwealth. To complete the museum, an additional 75,000 square feet will be added for a total of 190,000 square feet — allowing the round building to come full circle.

Project: National Museum of the Marine Corps
Owner: U.S. Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation
Cost: $87 million
Architect: Fentress Bradburn Architects
General contractor: Centex Construction