Application for CPC Project Assistance
App. 26 - Herreshoff Maritime Museum Campus Design Project
SECTION 1: Organization Information
Name of Organization: Herreshoff Maritime Museum/ Americas Cup Hall of Fame (HMM)
Type of Organization: Private (non-profit)
Name of Contact Person:
Larry Lavers
Chief Operating Officer
David Curtin
Exhibits Chair
Address of Organization/Contact Person:
Herreshoff Maritime Museum/ Americas Cup Hall of Fame
One Burnside Street, PO Box 450
Bristol, RI 02809 - 0450
Phone: (401) 253-5000
Fax: (401) 253-6222
E-mail:
l.lavers@herreshoff.org
aclee@cox.net
Description of Organization and Mission:
The Herreshoff Marine Museum/ America’s Cup Hall of Fame is dedicated to the education and inspiration
of the public through presentations of the history and innovative work of the Herreshoff Manufacturing
Company (HMCo) and the America’s Cup competition.
The Museum, bordering beautiful Narragansett Bay in Bristol, Rhode Island, is one of the nation’s most
important historical maritime treasures. We celebrate excellence in design, innovation, technology,
manufacturing, and education through museum displays and educational events, sponsoring symposia on
classic yacht design and restoration, hosting classic yacht regattas, and operating an outstanding sailing
school for youth and adults.
Over the past decade HMM has been best known for its collection of beautiful Herreshoff yachts, with
accompanying “storyboard” picture exhibits, Classic Yacht Symposiums, and waterfront activities. Recently,
HMM has embarked on a new strategy to emphasize a more comprehensive range of maritime and
America’s Cup exhibits, with exhibits featuring HMCo’s U.S. Navy business, Herreshoff’s marine steam
engines, America’s cup notables, and the Reliance Project, for example. The Reliance project is perhaps
the most ambitious of these endeavors. (The Reliance project was recently highlighted in a major Bristol
Phoenix article and short Providence Journal review.)
HMM executives and directors recognize that the success of this strategy will be a major factor in creating
an important regional and national museum. To that end, the Museum must also develop:
 Its museum infrastructure, notably communications, information management, documentation, and
research
 A new exhibit strategy to include exhibit prioritization, use of varied exhibit media, and enhanced
visitor experience, to name a few attributes. HMM should leverage exhibit strategies developed by
other leading maritime museums.
In the aforementioned Reliance project, the Museum is building a museum quality1/6th scale static display
replica of the famous 1903 America’s Cup winner “Reliance” which will become a cornerstone display and
source of related museum exhibits. This model will be 33’ in length and more than 37’ in height.
Despite the enormous amount of research on Reliance over the years, HMM has found that building of this
museum quality display replica still requires substantive research into Reliance, HMCo, yacht design and
manufacture, and large yacht racing techniques in order to complete the model. Given this fact, the
Reliance Project represents such an important opportunity for associated educational, cultural, and
inspirational exhibits for a broader base of membership and visitors that the Project cannot be deemed a
complete success without them.
Thus it can be seen that the Reliance Project is also dependent upon the museum infrastructure and
eventually the exhibit strategy development mentioned above.
To give the reviewer of this application an appreciation for the majesty of the original “Reliance,” her hull is
twice as long as the hull of the modern America’s Cup boat “Defiant” displayed at the Museum. Reliance’s
bowsprit and main boom overhang make her three times as long! Her mast is twice as high as “Defiant.”
She would barely fit under the center span of the Newport Bridge and certainly could not fit under the 135’
clearance of Mt. Hope Bridge even with topmast housed.
The model will represent the large America’s Cup boats, yachts and schooners among the Museum’s
collection of boats. But, more importantly “Reliance” will serve as a research vehicle and source of exhibits
related to:
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The America’s Cup of that era
Sailing large yachts
The unique construction of these large craft
The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
This last point may need some explanation for the reviewer of this application. Reliance was built and
delivered in racing form in just six months, while at the same time HMCo was building sailing dinghies,
power craft, and other large racing yachts. Her lead keel was poured only 30 days after receipt of order
from the Iselin Consortium and construction on her metal hull began less than a month after that. She is,
therefore, a most important symbol of integrated advanced design, engineering, and manufacturing
capabilities in post-industrial revolution America. HMCo was at the forefront - internationally recognized for
its advanced design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities. In fact, manufacturing pioneers such as
Henry Ford visited Bristol to gain insights.
How did you hear about the CPC?
Through:
Pete Wilbur
Associate Vice President
Community & Government Relations
Roger Williams University
SECTION 2: Project Description
Title of the Project: “HMM Campus Design”
Project Locations:
Herreshoff Maritime Museum/ Americas Cup Hall of Fame
One Burnside Street, PO Box 450
Bristol, RI 02809 - 0450
General Project Description:
HMM is currently developing a museum master plan or strategy to be completed by the end of the year.
One element of this must be a HMM campus master plan.
HMM is space constrained between High and Hope Street, owning several former HMCo facilities on either
side of Burnside Street. The Campus Design Project will support development of the museum master plan
by proposing how optimize the available campus to:
 Manage traffic and parking
 House administrative requirements
 Provide maximum exhibit, conference and dual purpose visitor areas
 Create an organized “traffic flow” of visitors while providing visitor “comfort” areas
 Accommodate archives, shop, maintenance and boat storage areas
 Organize and minimize intrusion of utilities
This project should also discuss preservation requirements/ options for existing buildings which are used as
storage areas or rental properties while the museum awaits museum development and expansion plans.
The Museum anticipates that Campus design will evolve over time as the Museum Master Plan matures.
The purpose of this project is NOT to develop a final campus plan but to support the evolution of the master
plan. Hence it should present:
 Campus insights and campus alternatives
 Insights into constraints and opportunities
 Proposals for activities that might be moved off the current campus
 Architectural insights into optimizing visitor experience
 Museum campus best practices and pitfalls to avoid
There is one other CPC project being proposed, the Reliance Display Area project, which is related to this
project. This project team should consider how and if it needs to coordinate with that project.
Potential Scope of Work/Tasks for RWU CPC:
HMM anticipates that RWU CPC would manage and staff the complete project, with assistance as required
by HMM staff and executives. This project can be designed to be accomplished over the 2012/2013 school
year with discrete phases, tasks or sub-tasks.
HMM believes this project would interest architectural students at the School of Architecture, Art & Historic
Preservation as well as students of Museum studies in the Feinstein College of Arts & Sciences.
HMM will rely heavily on CPC to create the Project Plan and define subsequent tasks. As such this project
application only outlines the requirements for a Project Plan with the understanding that further tasks will be
developed and defined in that document.
Task One: HMM Campus Plan
CPC will develop a Reliance Campus Design Project Plan to include statement of objectives, scope,
resources, tasks and/ or phases, schedule, and cost estimate for HMM review and approval. The Plan
should address the topics covered in the General Description section above, plus any that other topics CPC
deems relevant.
This task would be completed by presentation of the draft Project Plan to HMM and CPC executives and its
acceptance by HMM.
HMM believes that the following HMM community members could provide insights for the preparation of the
Project Plan:
 David Ford, Chairman
 Dyer Jones, CEO
 Larry Lavers, COO
 David Curtin , Exhibits Chair
 John Palmieri, Curator
 John Cobb, Facilities Manager
 Richard Feeney, Sailing Master and Director of Programs
 Margaret Church, Visitor Experience and Retail Manager
 Sandy Lee, Reliance Project Manager
Subsequent tasks will be defined in this Project Plan.
Proposed Project Schedule
To complete this 2012/2013 school year
Other information to help us to better understand the project (we encourage feel free to include
pictures, site documentation, maps etc.):
 A model of HMCo. is prominently displayed in HMM’s retail shop. HMM staff can explain how this
relates to the current museum campus
SECTION 3: Project Outcomes
This project is a key project among several proposed CPC projects that will broaden the interest in HMM
beyond just a collection of classic Herreshoff yachts into:
 The stories behind the boats
 The human endeavors and people behind the boats
 Insight into the development of yachting, boat building, technologies
 Insight into that early advanced technology firm of HMCo.
Please describe how this project will benefit your organization:
We anticipate that this will benefit the Museum by:
 Curatorial enrichment:
 Preserving out Museum heritage
 Providing deeper understanding/ insights to the curatorial and library staff
 Exhibit enrichment:
 Developing materials for richer exhibit materials
 Develops new media for more exciting visitor experience
 Expands HMM beyond a collection of boats
 Providing a major step in the development of a nationally recognized educational, cultural, and
inspirational venue
 A financially successful and important regional and national museum cannot exist solely as a
collection of beautiful boats, but must also be a broader educational, cultural, and inspirational
venue
 Resulting in increased Museum membership, patronage, and financial support
Please describe how this project might benefit the overall community, including who could benefit
from this project (i.e. target groups, neighborhoods, the region/city/town as a whole, etc.).
HMM’s target “customer” groups are:
 Its members
 Visitors
 The Town
 The State
 The Region, Nation and International boating community
Its members and visitors benefit by:
 Increased breadth of exhibits and interests
 Deeper insights into the stories behind the boats and business
 Interactive and varied exhibits and media
Town of Bristol benefits by:
 Improving Bristol’s image as a destination visit/ vacation spot
 Providing multiple activities to draw visitors year round
 Deepening the educational experience for school children and adult residents
 Increasing Bristol pride in its own residents and products
The State benefits by:
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A tangible example of Rhode Island ingenuity and international leadership that can be a beacon for
future high-tech firms for the state
A regionally, nationally, and internationally renowned museum located in the East Bay
o Reputation
o Visitor magnet that also supports the restaurant and hospitality business
SECTION 4: Financial Information
What is your organization’s annual operating budget?
$1.3 Million
What are your major sources of funding?
 Major Donations
 Rent
 Memberships
 Waterfront Marine Revenues
 Admissions
 Grants
How much funding from your annual operating budget is set aside for this project (if any)?
 None has been budgeted.
 Some small amounts may be able to be allocated to cover out-of-pocket expenses
 It is hoped that the Project Plan will provide insights into potential grants and corporate
sponsorships which may be applied to out-year tasks
 It is further hoped that with the development of an excellent plan and strategies that HMM can
leverage these to also seek major donations for the defined implementation plans.
SECTION 5: Private Sector Involvement
Have you or your organization discussed the project with practicing professionals (e.g. architect,
engineer, planner, etc.)?
No, does not require outside professional experience. University CPC, professors and student participation
supported by HMM staff is sufficient.
If yes, please explain why you have chosen to seek assistance from the RWU CPC with your project
request, instead of undertaking the project using fee-for-services from a paid professional:
Not Applicable