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Design Work Underway for US Marshals Museum in Fort Smith

1 min read

FORT SMITH – Design work is underway for the $58.6 million, star-shaped building that will house the new U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith.

U.S. Marshals Museum President and CEO Patrick Weeks announced Monday that site work is expected to begin next summer and an opening date is planned for September 2019, the Southwest Times Record reported.

About 20,000-square feet of exhibit space will show the history of the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States, presented in three main galleries. Also planned are teaching spaces for hands-on discovery, a theater presenting narratives, interactive exhibitions and the Hall of Honor, which will honor fallen U.S. marshals.

According to the museum’s website, about $34 million has been raised and fundraising will continue for an additional $24 million.

Reese Rowland, an architect and principal with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in Little Rock, said the firm is working through challenges presented by a 50,000-square-foot star-shaped building on riverfront property.

In addition to expanding functionality and visitor flow, the firm has suggested design elements to save on construction costs, including keeping dirt onsite for landscaping. Plans call for digging down 15 feet to 18 feet for foundation work and using dirt for landscaping mounds, or berms, which will add to the museum’s “hidden moment” experience, Rowland said.

“It will allow the grade of site to grow out of the ground,” Rowland said.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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