Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. | Consulting Engineers | Community | Ohr O'Keefe Museum of Art

“The freedom of expression and spontaneity that George Ohr’s works embrace have long been an inspiration for me. His flowing shapes imply a sense of movement that is similar to the gestures of some of my buildings.” - Frank Gehry.

The $18.7 million, 25,500 square foot museum was designed as a series of pavilions amid a four-acre grove of ancient live oak trees on the Mississippi Sound. The museum will also feature African American folk art and history, as well as works by contemporary artists of the region.

Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. provided Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Communications design services for the project beginning in 2001. At the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, construction of the museum was 49 percent complete. The site was devastated by the storm.

A casino barge crashed into the African American Museum, causing the pile caps to break and the building to shift three feet. This building will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt as a result. The Ohr Museum and the Exhibition Center for Ceramics sustained severe damage as well and will require remediation and reconstruction.

It took the Museum two years to receive the final settlement of insurance for the damage to the construction site. Now that the settlement has been reached, reconstruction can commence. The re-bidding process for the project began in October of 2007.




		The Ohr O'Keefe Museum of Art, located in Biloxi, Mississippi, is dedicated to one of America’s most innovative potters, George E. Ohr. Born in Biloxi in 1857, Ohr opened up shop there in 1881 and soon gained the reputation of the “Mad Potter of Biloxi” for his whimsical and eclectic pieces. It was only fitting that a museum in Ohr’s honor be designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank Gehry who is notorious for turning his gestural sketches into architectural realities.
	“The freedom of expression and spontaneity that George Ohr’s works embrace have long been an inspiration for me. His flowing shapes imply a sense of movement that is similar to the gestures of some of my buildings.” - Frank Gehry. The $18.7 million, 25,500 square foot museum was designed as a series of pavilions amid a four-acre grove of ancient live oak trees on the Mississippi Sound. The museum will also feature African American folk art and history, as well as works by contemporary artists of the region. Schmidt Consulting Group, Inc. provided Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Communications design services for the project beginning in 2001. At the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, construction of the museum was 49 percent complete. The site was devastated by the storm. A casino barge crashed into the African American Museum, causing the pile caps to break and the building to shift three feet. This building will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt as a result. The Ohr Museum and the Exhibition Center for Ceramics sustained severe damage as well and will require remediation and reconstruction. It took the Museum two years to receive the final settlement of insurance for the damage to the construction site. Now that the settlement has been reached, reconstruction can commence. The re-bidding process for the project began in October of 2007.
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