B.B. King Museum

IKBI, Inc., in association with Canizaro, Cawthon and Davis Architects, was selected to provide design, permitting, site preparation, and construction services for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi. The project combined historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and new construction to create a museum and educational campus dedicated to the life and career of B.B. King and the cultural and musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta.

A central component of the project was the selective demolition and preservation of the historic brick cotton gin where B.B. King worked as a teenager. The structure was renovated and incorporated into the museum as an entrance and event space, preserving an important connection between the facility, King’s early life, and the history of the Mississippi Delta.

The project incorporated approximately 38,000 square feet of museum, exhibition, educational, theater, retail, and administrative space. Project documentation describes the development in two phases, including an 18,000-square-foot museum and a 20,000-square-foot exhibition and educational center. Specialized features included multimedia exhibition environments and a theater equipped with two 16-by-16-foot motorized projection screens configured to create a 180-degree viewing experience.

Situated on approximately 2.3 acres, the completed facility was designed to present B.B. King’s life and more than six decades of work through music, artifacts, personal materials, film, and interactive exhibits while supporting educational and cultural programming for the surrounding community. The museum opened in 2008 and remains a significant cultural institution within the Mississippi Delta.