Through major demolition, renovations, and additions, a dilapidated, mostly abandoned sardine packing plant on the Royal River in Yarmouth has become a marine-oriented commercial focus for this small coastal town.

Three buildings comprise the complex: 1) the main office building, formerly a flat roofed, two story timber-framed building which, with its added third floor of dormered offices, provides 30,000 feet of rental space; 2) the existing steel storage building, substantially renovated to accommodate a restaurant, with decks to the east and water views to the north; and 3) the yacht sales building, a new steel framed “barn” sheathed in wood, with a tall clear span volume accommodating display of large yachts.

Much of the existing footprint has been retained, thereby perpetuating the historic river’s edge enterprise. By acknowledging the existing structural systems and amplifying the timber framing system as expressed in the repetitive dormers, a sense of what had become a local landmark is maintained. With carefully chosen forms, materials, and fenestration patterns, we have presented a mixture of comfortable vernacular and particular eclecticism.

photos: Brian Vanden Brink