Billy L. Cypress THPO Administration Building

The Billy L. Cypress THPO Museum Administration Building is a new office, administration and artifact storage building located in the Big Cypress Seminole Tribe of Florida reservation.

Wolfgberg Alvarez & Partners was commissioned by the Tribe to design and oversee the construction of a new facility to house their administrative staff and antiquities servicing the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, an American Alliance of Museums accredited facility. For years the existing adjacent building storage of artifacts had been at capacity, with museum staff working from project trailers to dedicate more museum square footage to exhibits. The new program required amassing the spread out museum support staff and equipment under one “roof” comprised of an existing adjacent structure and the new administration building.

WA worked tirelessly with the tribe to design a facility that met their needs and took future expansion on the site into account, mindful of the adjacent existing building vernaculars. The construction project broke ground in 2018 after passing both Tribal Building Department review. The project also required environmental review as it is located on historically sensitive wetlands of the everglades shared with the adjacent national park.

Mr. Bounds joined the team as the Project Architect during the construction phase, when the prior Project Architect moved on to a new opportunity just as core & shell phase of construction was being completed. He worked with the Tribe’s project management company to achieve completion within the expected time frame. He assisted in identifying additional services for the building occupant staff that better fit the scope to their evolving needs as opening approached.

The building was opened to the public in the fall of 2019