This
200,000 square foot museum’s permanent and changing
exhibition galleries feature an extensive Native American
collection of more than 1 million objects. Program areas
include indoor and outdoor public spaces, as well as
a private performance theater, a retail department,
food service and areas for art and artifact restoration,
research and administration. The building also includes
a central meeting place called the Potomac, a dome-topped
public area where museum visitors can experience dance,
drama, music, oral history and story-telling, and demonstrations
by artists-in-residence on Native American traditional
life-skills.
Air temperature and control of air circulation were
critical issues for this project, particularly given
the project’s unique façade and geometry,
neither of which could be compromised by the obvious
placement of electro/mechanical equipment. Air systems
for public areas incorporate water economizers that
minimize the use of louvers on the building’s
exterior and minimize temperature fluctuation during
variations in the temperature of outside air. The curved
walls of the museum’s interior also helped to
determine the air distribution design. Concealed curve-linear
outlets were placed in the majority of the museum’s
spaces to allow for quiet ventilation that doesn’t
compromise the interior architecture. Strict environmental
control was imperative for the engineering of the museum’s
galleries – especially in the design of temperature,
humidity control systems necessary to preserve art and
artifacts. Air handling units equipped with special
housing and additional carbon and chemical filtration
features (with a minimum of 95% efficient filters) insure
proper air quality. Slow air distribution from ceiling
to floor return vents minimizes the distribution of
airborne particles in areas like the galleries and theater.
The Potomac is this museum’s central gathering
area and its large-volume is used as a collection point
for spill air from throughout the building. Excess air
from the museum’s galleries and other functioning
areas is circulated at various levels into the Potomac,
where it is expelled from the dome. The Potomac’s
lower level air supplies are discrete from that used
to provide air to the upper levels so as to minimize
the impact of stagnant air from above circulating to
public areas below. Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis
performed for smoke purge mode to ensure proper placement
of smoke exhaust intakes in the Potomac .
The museum required that all electro/mechanical infrastructure
be incorporated into a single distribution system (with
telecommunications, security and audiovisual systems
as designed by others to reduce space requirements for
these systems (i.e., number of ceiling conduit runs)
and to allow for efficient access to all systems for
maintenance and adjustments. Outlets for telecommunications
systems can also be used to access the security system
via hand held devices; the public address system can
also be used for emergency messaging, etc.
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