“The original windows had single glazing and we didn’t really want operating windows in the building because it is pretty strictly climate controlled,” Boyd notes. “We needed something that replicated the original windows visually as much as possible. The windows take a fair percentage of the exterior walls on two façades, so they feature insulated glass today.”
Also to improve the energy efficiency of the building envelope, a new 60-mil fully adhered TPO roof with polyisocyanurate insulation was installed.
Interior
The building’s interior of exposed, poured-in-place reinforced concrete columns, beams, joists and flat slabs had endured roof leaks, which caused spalling and rusted reinforcing steel. The construction team wire brushed, cleaned and coated the steel while spalled concrete areas were patched with high-strength grout.
Although the structure originally was designed to house automobiles, over the years, stud partitions had been constructed to provide retail space along the two façades that face the public street. The team removed the partitions and set about determining where to place two fire stairs and an open staircase so visitors could access the second level. “There was no stair in the building,” Boyd points out. “The only way up and down was a ramp from a garage door that allowed cars and trucks to park on the second floor. Half of it had been cut away before we even got there, and it was too steep to use for handicap access. We cut away more of it and put one of the fire stairs in that location. We kept a small remnant of the ramp, which you can see from underneath, to point out where it used to be.”
As a museum planner and exhibit designer, Nicholson guided much of the interior design. Early discussions centered around how to protect the artifacts without creating an art-museum-quality environment in which the relative humidity and temperature are kept at very specific levels throughout the facility. “Creating an art-museum-quality environment would’ve been a tremendous drain on the museum’s resources in terms of energy,” Nicholson asserts. “In our case, it made sense to do microclimates, protecting artifacts in each area on a case-by-case basis.”
However, as a Smithsonian affiliate, a museum-quality environment had to be achieved for traveling exhibits placed in the Special Exhibits Gallery. Mechanical systems maintain 45 percent relative humidity and 68 to 70 F plus or minus 2 percent diurnally in this area.
The historical commission required the museum’s ceilings be painted a light gray. In the galleries, the team allowed the light gray to emphasize the character of the original building. In areas that required sound control and more subtle lighting, Nicholson’s team installed ceiling clouds, which allowed speakers to be hidden above and sound to penetrate through while light bounces off them. Again, thinking about the museum’s financial resources, LED fixtures were used in track lighting and within cases. Similar to how the team created microclimates within the space, Nicholson also mapped the galleries’ layout based on lighting.
“Natural light is wonderful for people as you move through galleries, but you have to watch it because you have collections that can obviously be damaged, so we considered where we were in the space and the type of story we could tell in that space and the kinds of artifacts to determine how the exhibits were laid out,” Nicholson explains. “At the end of the exhibit, visitors’ backs are to the windows; we installed solar screens that have images of country music and musicians on them that appear on the outside. But on the inside, they just work as a screen to filter the light. Essentially, we’re dealing with the physiology of the way eyes react to light while controlling light. Visitors go from a darker exhibit area where the exhibits are controlled with lighting to a midrange light area and ultimately into natural light.”
Boyd adds: “We were lucky the building only had a lot of glazing on two façades, so Joe was able to put most of the permanent exhibit away from windows. We were working with what we have, in other words.”
In respect to the building’s original character, the team only introduced design ideas that were appropriate to the history and current use of the building. Contemporary pieces complement the historic façade. For instance, new staircases are composed of tempered glass with high-tech “buttons” and no vertical or horizontal supports. “We sought a contemporary take on the industrial aesthetic that would’ve been appropriate to the building,” Boyd says. “We just wanted it to be updated and kind of upscaled but still compatible to the original.”