| Museum of Fine Arts
Audrey Jones Beck Building Houston, TX Mechanical and Electrical Engineers Completion Date: 2000 Architects: Rafael Moneo with Kendall Heaton Architects
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The project consists of a new 180,000-ft2 museum coupled to an adjacent 100,000-ft2 support building connected by a pedestrian tunnel. The support building also houses an outdoors multi-level parking facility. A centrifugal chiller plant located in the support building cools the building. The design features a 3500 kVa emergency power system designed to permit the building to remain open to the public during a loss of utility power. The HVAC system includes single component failure redundancy for all major equipment. The building houses all HVAC equipment in three major mechanical rooms on the lowest level, eliminating the need for service personnel to enter gallery spaces. Also included are "cold" and "cool" conservation environments for storage of film and works on paper. The air systems include both particulate and gas phase filtration. Because of the humid climate, all ventilation air is "pre-treated" prior to introduction into the building's main air conditioning systems. The lighting levels of sky lit galleries are managed a computerized day lighting control system designed to control gallery light levels without the use of mechanized louvers. The system maintains the vertical illumination between 9 and 22 foot candles. |