The National Presidential Museum + Library
Semester Spring 2017
Professor Luis Boza Site Independence + 14th Street Washington, D.C. Program Museum + Library Duration 16 weeks Awards Placed 3rd among 16 teams Group Members Andrew Cahill, Alix Herrera, Michael Spinelli "The Comprehensive Building Design Studio (CBDS), with integrated professional partnerships, offers students the unique opportunity to engage issues related to the practice of architecture. Organized in a way intended to simulate the work environment of architectural practitioners, student teams generate design proposals for a hypothetical project for a client on a real site."(architecture.catholic.edu)
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Rotating Atriums
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HANGING THE MUSEUM LIKE A CHANDELIER
First, it allows for the floor space in the cube to be clear of structural members. Allowing the building to have 360 degrees of usable space for both exhibits and atriums. Second, since the outside, and exposed area, of the buildings is suspended from the top, risk of progressive collapse is greatly reduced. As this would be a building of national importance and symbolism, a certain level of security and structural mindfulness had to be taken into account. Finally, a suspended system allows the cafe level to be void of the exterior columns. This creates a relatively transparent level from the outside viewers which makes the cube appear as it is floating above the the plinth. The contrast of design between the standard system of steel columns in compression for the plinth and a suspended steel system for the cube allowed us to define the hierarchy of the building, manage technical problems, and to stick to our strong original concept. |
Load Tracing Diagram
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Structural Analysis
Pulling from the concept, the structural design for the building needed to emphasize an elevated “ideal”. To make this happen, the building needed to appear to float yet still be resolute and strong. What eventually was developed was a 35’ x 35’ cast-in-place reinforced concrete core which held up a system of 8 galvanized steel trusses. These trusses are 10’ high and set in a 35’ x 35’ orthogonal grid. Along the outer four trusses, 12 columns are suspended to hold up the four floors below. This means that each of the floors ,which consists of W24x162 steel girders and W8x130 steel beams, are supported by both a core of reinforced concrete in compression and 12”x12”x5/8” HSS’ in tension on the exterior. |