Though still in the early stages of design, the public had an opportunity in late December to see the initial design direction for the new museum. The National Coast Guard Museum is a maritime facility that engages the waterfront in New London, CT. Visitors of all ages will learn of the Coast Guard’s history and also its ongoing missions and activities. Leveraging its position along the Thames River, interactive exhibits will incorporate real-time monitoring of river traffic and in-water demonstrations. With this in mind, the building is designed to be open and transparent toward the river. A simple rectilinear volume behind this daylit gallery will provide flexible space for climate-controlled galleries, instructional spaces and an auditorium.
Following the Coast Guard’s mission for environmental stewardship, this building is intended to be storm-ready and friendly to the environment it inhabits. Because of this, the occupiable floors in the facility are elevated above the 500-year floodplain, and the lowest level is used only for building access and emergency exit. In order to keep energy use to a minimum, the design is exploring options for high-performance building envelopes, natural ventilation, solar panels and geothermal heat pump cooling.
Recognizing the prominence of this site and the importance of the train station to New London’s heritage, this project seeks to engage the plaza in order to make it a vibrant outdoor space suitable for a variety of events far beyond anything supporting the museum. The extended plaza will serve as a terminus to the river walk and facilitate connection to the new pedestrian bridge bringing visitors safely back to Water Street and into the heart of the city.
Related:
Design proposals unveiled for Coast Guard Museum
New images of National Coast Guard Museum unveiled
We are honored to share PAYETTE has received two 2026 Green Good Design Awards from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies—Land’s Sake Farm and The Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard.
“Green GOOD DESIGN identifies and emphasizes the world’s most important examples of sustainable design and works to develop a public awareness program that informs the general public about which global companies are doing the best job in ecological and sustainable design for our world. Architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning projects, as well as product, packaging, and graphic design projects from over 30 nations were honored with the 2026 Green GOOD DESIGN Award.”
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