A modern Southern Miss building will be featured on a new CBS architecture TV show
The University of Southern Mississippi’s Marine Education Center in Ocean Springs will be featured on an episode of “America ByDesign: Architecture”, a new CBS show that highlights American architectural design.
The episode is set to air Saturday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. on the CBS Streaming Network.
CBS sent a crew, producer and show host to the modern building for filming in late August, according to a press release from Southern Miss.
“The Marine Education Center (MEC) continues to get so much attention in part because the architects listened closely to center staff about the vision for outdoor learning we developed in the years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the previous building,” said Jessica Kastler, director for the MEC. “They created a facility that brings the outdoors inside and becomes part of the lesson as it illustrates concepts of environmental sustainability and hazard resilience.”
The MEC, which replaced the JL Scott Aquarium in Biloxi that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, opened in 2018 and is part of the University’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
A new show
“America ByDesign: Architecture”, which is in its first season, aims to highlight American architectural innovation and design. In each episode, a group of architecture design industry leaders evaluate four to five properties and send one through to the final judging round. In the final episode, the judges select the best architectural design of the season.
The show is a companion to “America ByDesign: Innovation” which is in its third season and highlights different American-made innovations and inventions.
Viewers can vote for their favorite architectural design to be awarded ““America ByDesign: Architecture”’s People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Lumion. Those who vote are entered to win Lumion Pro and a laptop from MSI Creator Z-series. Viewers can vote for the MEC to win that award here.
A sustainable design
In “America ByDesign: Architecture”’s website biography of the MEC, the MEC is described as “exemplifying sustainable coastal building techniques in harmony with the marine environment.”
The education facility, which was completed in 2018 after the previous facility was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, features outdoor classrooms, laboratories, administration offices, assembly spaces, exhibition areas, and a pedestrian suspension bridge, which has become a popular destination for locals.
When building the center, the team — which consisted of architects from San Antonio based Lake | Flato and Bay St. Louis based unabridged Architecture — consulted with experts to choose a building zone that was high enough in elevation to protect the buildings in the event of a natural disaster, but also have the least impact on the environment. The design focused on using the land to protect from hurricanes, which destroyed the previous building and impacted the construction site delaying the reconstruction.
Marine center’s other accolades
In May, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recognized the MEC design team with its Honor Award, which recognizes, “the best contemporary architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type.”
In 2020, AIA also awarded the MEC one of its Committee On The Environment Top 10 awards, an award that recognizes design excellence with environmental performance. The MEC is the only building in Mississippi to ever receive this award, according to a press release from USM.
The AIA recommended the MEC and its architects from Lake | Flato for inclusion in the first season of “America ByDesign: Architecture.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
