Spirit of Space, in collaboration with Trahan Architects, has created a short film featuring the award-winning design of the Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The museum was recently awarded the prestigious 2015 AIA Institute Honor Award and will be honored at the upcoming AIA National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

From Spirit of Space:

The Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum, designed by Trahan Architects, evokes the past as much as it signals the future. Set in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, the museum employs 21st century technology to execute a design language inspired by the carving and scouring of the nearby Cane River and the historic architecture of Natchitoches. 

The film carries viewers past the historic district's references, around the pleated copper façade and into the sculpted interior.  The cast stone panels define a fluid pathway that flows around, up and through the varied exhibition galleries, culminating at a veranda overlooking the riverfront. 

Having spent several days in the space observing the museum patrons and their experiences, it is clear that the museum’s architecture is an exhibit itself.  And while visitors point at and caress the exquisitely crafted  cast stone, they are simultaneously guided by it without the need for any signage or wayfinding devices.  This is a space about movement.  In cinematic form, this film attempts to capture that fluid experience, and at the same time, to illustrate how the past can complement and inspire compelling and forward-thinking architecture.