The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, Virginia Building Renewal, USA Architecture, Images
The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum in Winchester
American Architectural Redevelopment in Virginia ? design by Reader & Swartz Architects
15 Feb 2017
The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum
Design: Reader & Swartz Architects
Location: 19 W. Cork Street, Winchester, Virginia 22601, USA
The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum

This was a plain, utilitarian, three story brick building. It was originally constructed for the Schewels Furniture Company, in the historic downtown, in the late 1940?s. It was used as a furniture store for about 60 years, and then, more recently, as a church and professional offices. The goal of this adaptive reuse project was to transform the building into a children?s museum for a local non-profit group with limited funds.
The design involved gutting the building, in order to create open, flexible spaces for hands-on exhibits. An existing fire stair and an elevator at the rear of the building were retained, modified, and extended up to the new roof level; an additional fire stair was also inserted. The front façade was reworked, and a new glass garage door acts as both a storefront and an exhibit loading dock.

The most significant design intervention was the installation of the roof terrace / sky level space. This area is animated with new roof pavilions, which house the elevator, fire stairs, a stage / shade pavilion, a small lobby, and an o...