Design Build - Princeville Museum | Clint Ronsick Design

Thirteen of my peers and I, with almost complete independence, designed and built this fully wired and air-conditioned mobile museum to celebrate the rich history of Princeville, NC; the first town in the United States to be founded by African-Americans back in the year 1885. It’s mobility allows the town to transport it to safer ground during the frequent flooding that the community has to endure. It being on wheels also opens up the possibility for traveling exhibitions, complete with bold graphics that assert the towns identity and date-of-foundation to the public.

PRINCEVILLE CONTEXT & NEEDS

Princville NC

Design Schemes

ASSORTED DESIGN SCHEMES + FINAL

The buildings graphics are plasma cut and CNC routed into its overlapping layers of aluminum sheet & pre-rusted COR-TEN steel. The ruggedness of the rusted finish and its relationship with water acts as a metaphor for Princeville’s resilience and strength in the face of repetitive flooding as well as its other challenges such as historic racism and its current economic hardships.

DESIGN BUILD CONSTRUCTION

Construciton

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During the construction phase of this project I was involved in every single on-site activity from welding and wall framing to roofing and interior finishes. From this daily reckoning with the realities of construction I have developed a deeper appreciation for the connection between the design process and the construction process. I am proud to have worked on, what I believe, is the NCSU College of Design’s most ambitious, altruistic and well executed Design-Build to date.

Chasis