The Westport I-Site & Coal Town Museum was built by Coman Construction of Nelson. Renovating an existing building & making use of historic mining equipment Coman has done an outstanding job recreating a coalmine inside the museum.
A heavy use of raw finished materials makes this building one of a kind, mill finish aluminium interior partitioning within walls clad with corten steel & back painted glass. Frameless glass exterior walls bolted back to timber lattice work all draw the eye. An interior light well creates the sense of being underground with the museum kept dimly lit. Window sash’s opening inward adds ventilation to the back end of the building. The I-Site entry way is finished off by coal bin tracks making their way through a corten steel portal filled with frameless glass pivot doors