MADELINE TRAYLOR
THE NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY
COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING DESIGN STUDIO 2017
Professor: Luis Boza
Partners: Alix Herrera, Andrew Cahill, Michael Spinelli Studio: "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) Site: Independence & 14th St Washington DC. Program: A museum and library dedicated to the presidents of the United States of America with program dedicated to research, archives, and gathering spaces such as a cafe and terrace. |
Project:
"The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) together with the Office of Presidential Libraries has commissioned your architectural design firm to design The National Presidential Library and Museum in Washington, DC. The building shall represent all past and future presidents. It will work in concert with the thirteen existing presidential libraries, the National Archives, Smithsonian Museums as well as private foundations, historical societies and state governments to house temporary & permanant exhibits, research facilties, archives and spaces for public education. Located in close proximity to the National Mall, the building shall evoke a meaningful experience, be a powerful presence and be respectful to the environment as a means of representing the power of our nation’s democratic process and the service of those who have held taken the oath of office." Luis Boza
"The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) together with the Office of Presidential Libraries has commissioned your architectural design firm to design The National Presidential Library and Museum in Washington, DC. The building shall represent all past and future presidents. It will work in concert with the thirteen existing presidential libraries, the National Archives, Smithsonian Museums as well as private foundations, historical societies and state governments to house temporary & permanant exhibits, research facilties, archives and spaces for public education. Located in close proximity to the National Mall, the building shall evoke a meaningful experience, be a powerful presence and be respectful to the environment as a means of representing the power of our nation’s democratic process and the service of those who have held taken the oath of office." Luis Boza
CONCEPT:
After ascending from the street below, you enter under the floating cube through the marble-cladded plinth. As you wrap around the core, you are able to view the flags of the states from which the presidents are from. You may decide to stop and take a picture, or continue your journey up through the core to the sixth floor of the suspended cube. When you arrive at your destination, you are greeted with a panoramic view of the National Mall, and more specifically the Washington Monument. You stop to take pictures of the breathtaking view before continuing on to the exhibits around you. You return to the core after finishing each floor to descend down the floating stairs, hung by cables similar to the facade beyond. You may choose to pause and sit in one of the atriums that line the outer edge of the cube. This is where you can admire the fritted glass, steel cables and then you notice the columns as they pass through the floors. Suddenly you feel as if the floor you are standing on is hovering above and below the others. At the end of your journey you visit the cafe, stop to have coffee and walk out along the plinth to take a final photo when you notice something peeking out from the plinth. You go to look and you see that there is a library below, where the administration and scholars work and study. After taking a moment to reflect on your time at the museum, you descend once again to the first level of the plinth. This is were you can buy a souvenir and the gift shop, listen to a speaker in the auditorium, and where you have ended your trip to the National Presidential Museum and Library.
100' ELEVATION TO MATCH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
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. |
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.
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LOAD TRACING DIAGRAMS
SIXTH FLOOR
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FIFTH FLOOR
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FOURTH FLOOR
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THIRD FLOOR
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FIRST FLOOR