Columbia River Maritime Museum Mariners Hall

The Columbia River Maritime Museum offers a unique combination of experiences, where an extensive collection of seafaring vessels, maritime artifacts, and fine art come to life through exciting and informative exhibits, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The new Mariners Hall building will further enhance this unique blend by creating an interactive visitor experience, aimed at attracting and educating the public through interactive exhibits, large-scale displays, and education programs centered around the rich maritime history of the Columbia River.  

With over 24 vessels, a suspended US Coast Guard helicopter, the Bulkhead—a 200-foot-long, two-level “spine element” showcasing hundreds of maritime artifacts, and the Boatworks—an all-ages STEAM learning lab, Mariners Hall promises an immersive educational experience. Serving over 15,000 regional school students annually and hosting numerous public educational programs, it will be a hub for Pacific Northwest maritime education and exploration. 
Inside the museum, visitors will encounter a spacious 40-foot-high atrium, offering views of the vessels against the backdrop of expansive 20-foot-high windows overlooking the Columbia River. A curving ramp along the Bulkhead exhibit will enable visitors to view the boats from various angles while ensuring accessibility throughout the museum.

The building's design showcases a dramatic mass timber roof made up of glulam ribs spanning up to 60 feet and more than 150 prefabricated purlin-plywood panels, echoing the ribbed construction of wooden boats and providing a visual contrast to the original museum's iconic curved massing. Design and fabrication were closely linked, relying on algorithmic assistance and precise digital workflows to navigate complex constraints of the organic timber geometry. During the highly collaborative design process, Opsis partnered closely with StructureCraft to develop a cost-effective wood framing system that curves in plan and section. The result is an exposed timber structure inspired by the craftsmanship of wooden boat building. Using advanced digital modeling tools, like Rhino and Grasshopper, the team explored structural alternatives, improved material efficiency, simplified the number of unique wood elements and stayed true to the dynamic character of the original design sketches.