
Category: Bond
Award
Mixed-use briefs are typical fare for architects nowadays, but New Orleans–based Trahan Architects was dealt an especially tricky hand in their latest commission. The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum is an institutional project that’s actually two institutions in one—a new home for a history museum as well as for a museum of statewide sports memorabilia formerly housed on a nearby university campus. Squeezing both into a 28,000-square-foot structure in the rural town of Natchitoches took a bit of doing: putting objects like a football helmet side by side with a traditional Indian artifact would seem a bit improbable. So the design team had to find a way of making the programmatic combo work under one roof.

To find a formal starting point for their design solution, the team turned to the local landscape—specifically, to the adjacent Cane River Lake, the commercial and ecological lifeblood of the region. The structure takes its cue from the oxbows, curves, and divagations that mark the path of the narrow 32-mile-long lake, which was once a bustling steamboat corridor that connected to the Red River. These are expressed in a quasi-conical foyer that acts as the heart of the structure, with its twisted, sculpted interior (made of 1,100 cast stone panels) that was inspired by the convolutions of the waterway. As juror David Jameson, put it, “If you think sports are about movement, it’s really interesting that this is a very kinetic building, and you feel like someone could be swimming through it or running through it.” The novel solution inside is complemented by a gently contextual exterior that also drew praise from the panel: Fellow judge Sheila Kennedy praised the building’s pleated copper cladding, meant to echo the clapboard siding of the historic buildings of the area, “as de rigueur” for Louisiana and “a nice offset to the discovery of what the space is like on the inside.”
See all of the winners of ARCHITECT's 2013 Annual Design Review here.
For additional coverage of the Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame, please read Aaron Betsky's piece from the August 2013 issue of ARCHITECT.




Project Credits
Project Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame, Natchitoches, La.
Client State of Louisiana, Office of Facility, Planning & Control
Architect Trahan Architects, New Orleans—Victor F. “Trey” Trahan, III, FAIA (design principal); Brad McWhirter, AIA (project architect); Ed Gaskin, AIA, Mark Hash, Michael McCune, AIA (designers); Sean David, Blake Fisher, Erik Herrmann, David Merlin, Assoc. AIA, Benjamin Rath, Judson Terry (project team)
Interior Designer Lauren Bombet Interiors
M/E/P/FP Engineer Associated Design Group
Structural Engineer LBYD
Civil Engineer CSRS
Geotechnical Engineer GeoConsultants
General Contractor VCC
Landscape Architect Reed Hilderbrand Associates
BIM Manager and Technology Consultant Case
Cast Stone Support Steel Geometry and Detailing Method Design
Cast Stone Support Steel Engineer David Kufferman
Acoustics SH Acoustics
Waterproofing Water Management Consultants & Testing
Size 28,000 square feet
Cost $12.6 million
Material and Sources
Acoustical Panel Ceilings Hunter Douglas hunterdouglascontract.com
Acoustical Systems Whisper Walls whisperwalls.com
Acoustical Tile Ceilings Armstrong armstrong.com
All Glass Doors CRL www.crl-arch.com
Carpet Shaw Contract Group shawcontractgroup.com
Cast Stone Advanced Cast Stone (manufacturer) advancedcaststone.com; Masonry Arts (installer) masonryarts.com
Elevator Kone us.kone.com
Exhibits Explus www.explusinc.com
Exterior Air and Weather Barrier Henry Co. us.henry.com
Exterior Rainscreen Manufacturer A2MG a2mg.com
Exterior Rainscreen Installer F.L. Crane & Sons flcrane.com
Fabric Reinforced Waterproofing American Hydrotech hydrotechusa.com
Flush Wood Doors Algoma Hardwoods www.algomahardwoods.com
Glass Systems Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope oldcastlebe.com
Gypsum National Gypsum nationalgypsum.com
Hanger Doors Schweiss Hydraulic Doors hydraulicdoors.com
Hollow Metal Doors and Frames MPI Group metalproductsinc.com
HVAC McQuay International daikinmcquay.com
Lighting Bega-Us (exterior) bega-us.com; Cooper Lighting (interior) cooperlighting.com
Lighting Controls Lehigh lehighdim.com
Manufactured Quartz Dupont Zodiaq zodiaq.com
Millwork and Wood Flooring Allegheny Millwork alleghenymillwork.com
Operable Partitions Hufcor hufcor.com
Paints and Finishes Sherwin-Williams sherwin-williams.com
Plumbing Fixtures Toto totousa.com
Roofing Johns Manville johnsmanville.com
Sealants Tremco tremcosealants.com
Skylights Sunshine Rooms sunshinerooms.com
Tiling Floor Gres floorgres.it
Toilet Compartments Ampco Products ampco.com
Wayfinding ASI Signage Innovations asisignage.com