WILLIAMSBURG, Va., September 12, 2008--The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, a Virginia state agency that operates Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center history museums, has selected Westlake Reed Leskosky, an architectural and engineering firm nationally known for its work in cultural arts facilities, to design a new Yorktown Victory Center. The project will be managed from the company’s Washington, D.C., office, and Hopke & Associates, Inc., of Williamsburg will serve as associate architect.
The Foundation Board of Trustees elected last year to replace the Yorktown Victory Center, a museum of the American Revolution that opened in 1976 as a bicentennial visitor center, with a new facility. In 2008 the Virginia General Assembly authorized $3 million, with nearly half to come from non-general fund revenue generated by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, for environmental impact studies, architectural and engineering services, and exhibit design services. A total of 17 firms, including six from Virginia, submitted proposals for architectural and engineering services.
Recent Westlake Reed Leskosky projects include the Museum at Bethel Woods in New York, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Ohio and Shafran Planetarium at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and a commission from the City of Las Vegas to design the Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement within a historic building. The century-old firm, which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, has garnered more than 200 awards in the past 25 years and is a leader in sustainable design.
Replacement of the Yorktown Victory Center was identified last year as the best long-term solution to addressing visitation growth and maintenance costs and maximizing site utilization, while allowing the existing museum building to remain open during construction. A site concept envisions an approximately 80,000-square-foot facility locating visitor services, expanded exhibition galleries, classroom and event space, and support functions in one building and improving access to outdoor interpretive programming. A preliminary estimate of the cost for major components of the project is $41 million.
