Audrain Automobile Museum
The architecturally significant 1903 Audrain Building, located in the heart of Newport Rhode Island’s commercial district, was transformed in 2014 by Northeast Collaborative Architects into one of the most unique Automobile Museums in North America. Its automobile collection is comprised of over 160 of the rarest and most remarkable vehicles in history, and houses fully restored vehicles ranging from the beginning of the 20th Century to modern day.
To transform the first floor into a state of the art auto museum, NCA removed existing bearing walls, shored the structure, reinforced flooring and installed steel trusses. The South elevation was upgraded with a two story arched opening that allows cars to access the exhibit space. The work horse for the display lighting is accomplished with the architectural integration of LSI’s 2 circuit Track incorporated within a parallelogram. The flexibility of the lighting design follows the museums intent to “keep it fresh.” The entire collection is never displayed at once. Instead, vehicles are showcased based on periodically changing exhibition themes. This gives visitors and members of the museum the opportunity to have a completely unique experience with each visit.
Photo Credits: Images Courtesy Northeast Collaborative Architects
Photographer: Ben Jacobsen Photo