The National Maritime Museum Cornwall is a world-class attraction designed by Long & Kentish Architects to reflect the historic traditions of the area with dramatic internal spaces that are themselves part of the exhibition displays. A combination of key skills was brought into part in the design and construction of the museum, including architects, builders, curators, woodworkers, artists, designers, shipwrights, writers, film-makers, digital imagers and computer programmers.

With breathtaking views from the 29m tower, one of only three natural underwater viewing locations in the world, hands-on interactives, audio visual immersive experiences, talks, special exhibitions and the opportunity to get out onto the water and discover the marine life around the coastline, this new generation of museum has something for everyone. The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has an impressive collection of small boats: some 120 crafts of historical significance from Britain and abroad.

For many years the trustees had been seeking a suitable waterfront location for the boats, many of which can still be sailed. Falmouth, with its nautical heritage and one of the world’s finest harbors, represented an ideal site for the new Cornwall branch of the Maritime Museum. Straddling the sea wall of the Fal estuary, Long & Kentish Architects’ design is an imposing new building within Falmouth’s dockland area, its striking tower reminiscent of a lighthouse.

As a pivotal experience, National Maritime Museum Cornwall is offering viewpoints from both below and above water level. The marine life of the estuary is revealed through thick laminated glass walls at the base of the tower, while the views of town and harbor from the top are breathtaking. The complex has been carefully planned to make a major contribution to the sequence of public spaces along the waterfront, and to create a pedestrian route linking the old town-centre with the lifeboat station and docks.

Designed to blend with and enhance the surrounding vernacular warehouses, the harborside building’s exterior oak-cladding reflects the history of wooden boat sheds in the area, while its shape, form and orientation take full account of its location between Falmouth’s historic buildings and the ships and warehouses to be found in the docks.

The main museum includes an underwater tidal gallery, tidal pool, model boat pools, education room, catering facilities, temporary exhibition areas and pontoons for sailing ‘live’ exhibits. The interior is organized around 2 principal halls, both of which exhibit boats that can be viewed at different heights from surrounding spaces and galleries. These spaces offer contrasting exhibition conditions and are divided by a huge, asymmetrically curved wall, resembling a great timber boat hull.

As part of a wider site strategy, the regeneration scheme includes retail and residential buildings, a marina, and a new, external public space, to be defined on the landward side in the future by a number of new cultural and commercial facilities. Construction of the Museum posed a number of interesting technical and environmental challenges, including building part of the Museum over the dock wall into the harbor, constructing a gallery below sea level and developing a design that employs low-energy strategies, using the natural environment to assist in controlling the internal conditions of the galleries, such as including natural ventilation in the main galleries. The National Maritime Museum was highly appreciated by the Royal Fine Art Commission, and received one of the largest ever Heritage Lottery Fund grants for new building. It has won RIBA, BCI, RTPI and Civic Trust Awards, amongst others.

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