Nasher Sculpture Center

This project was unique with regards to scheduled completion. The original completion date was May of 2002. The original scope for the project was much smaller but grew and changed during design and construction. Before the project was complete in October 2003, Brandt's GMP contract doubled.

Brandt was hired at the 50% construction document phase as a partner of The Beck Group. With much of the design still to be completed, it was important that Brandt worked closely with the general contractor and design team to remain current with changes, help identify problems, and create solutions.

The notion that the mechanical systems should not be seen, nor heard presented a design and construction challenge. Adapting classic methods of mechanical design and construction to create practical solutions to operate the building was necessary. All HVAC systems providing air conditioning and ventilation to the museum are located in a "U" shaped isle in the basement, fifteen feet in depth, from the perimeter wall. These systems include eleven air-handling units, with humidity control to protect the collection from variations of moisture in the air and sound attenuators to eliminate high pitch sounds and low rumbles. With the glass ceiling design, classic overhead duct systems for supply air could not be used for the ground floor air distribution. Air conditioning for the entire ground floor was supplied via under floor air distribution at the perimeter of the gallery spaces. Return air to the mechanical systems is routed through reveals located at the ceiling and wall joint. The return air was then routed with 12" spaces, between the interior travertine walls, and picked up by return air duct at the floor.

Also within these travertine walls, 185 roof drainage lines were installed to remove storm water from the glass roof's custom stainless steel gutter system. This storm water is then pumped out of the building via sump systems. The lower level uses classic overhead air distribution and return systems. The Coordination of the supply and return ductwork systems became critical since both the ground floor and lower level systems were concealed in a space above the drop down ceiling of the lower level providing little room to spare. This system combined with the other building systems such as plumbing and electrical systems needed to be coordinated within this space. Brandt pre-fabricated most of this system from 3D CAD shop drawings. This allowed us to work through these tight ceiling tolerances efficiently with minimum rework.