The New Museum designed by SANAA, a Tokyo architectural firm, was unveiled in New York on Dec.

1. In order to fit a vertical space in a high-density Manhattan setting, SANAA has stacked boxes,

shifted off-axis, to create a minimalist structure. The gaps created by the off-axis stacked boxes

became the skylight of galleries and the terraces of offices. The New Museum’s strong presence is

highlighted by SANAA’s exploration of boundaries between internal and external spaces, a feature

of minimalist expression. The numerous attempts that have been made to realize this project, how-

ever, offer many implications for the communication between the architects and project collabora-

tors. In order to examine the process of SANAA’s second project in the United States, Space inter-

viewed Toshihiro Oki, who was a project architect for the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion and

the New Museum. We intend to examine architectural attempts to realize a single design concept,

ranging from material selection, to solutions to details, to in-depth study of thermal energy con-

ducted to construct a glass building. <Written by Lim Jin-young>

Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa

NEW MUSEUM OFCONTEMPORARY ART

What CompletesSANAA’s Design?

Feature 01

Edited by Lim Jin-young

| Designed by H

wang H

ye-rim

© Iw

an Baan

Design Architect: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa(SANAA)Location: New York, USAPrincipal use: contemporary art museumSite area: 737.86m2

Building area: 737.86m2

Total floor area: 5,776.42m2

Structure: Steel FrameDesign team: Florian Idenburg, Toshihiro Oki, Koji Yoshida,Hiroaki Katagiri, Yoshitaka Tanase, (former staff-Jonas Elding,Javier Haddad Conde, Junya Ishigami, Yoritaka Hayashi, FennaHaakma Wagenaar, Jamin Morrison)Architect of Record (SD1): Guggenheimer ArchitectsStructural Consultant: SAPS - Sasaki and Partners / MutsuroSasaki, Eisuke Mitsuda, Hajime NarukawaStructural Engineer: Guy Nordenson and AssociatesMechanical / Electrical Engineer: ARUPLighting Designer: Tillotson Design AssociatesCurtain Wall Consultant: Simpson Gumpertz & HegerClient: New Museum of Art

Site plan

Not wanting to create an introverted mass in a dense urban setting like Downtown Manhattan,SANAA opened the building up and the museum started to interact with its surroundings.

7776

The New Museum of Contemporary Art is an urban infill in

Downtown Manhattan. Given such a dense urban setting, stacking

museum spaces might easily have led to an introverted mass, but by

shifting the volumes in relation to each other we opened the build-

ing up and the museum started to interact with its surroundings.

This shifting allows for skylights, terraces, and variation, all while

maximizing wall space and keeping within the zoned building enve-

lope. As the relation between core and envelope vary, different

lighting conditions and proportions arise.

Written by SANAA | Photographs by Dean Kaufman(except indicate otherwise)

© Iw

an Baan

© Iw

an Baan

© Iw

an Baan

7978

Kazuyo Sejima received a master’s degree in architecture from Japan Womens University, andis a professor at Keio University. Together with Ryue Nishizawa, she established SANAA in 1995,and has ever since been carrying out active architecture work. Born in 1966, Ryue Nishizawa

received a masters degree in architecture from Yokohama National University, established theOffice of Ryue Nishizawa, and is running the firm as well as conducting SANAA-related work atthe same time. Nishizawa is also an associate professor at Yokohama National University. Theirmain works include the Yokayama S House, M House, and K Building. Current projects includethe Stadstheater Almere “De Kunstlineie” in the Netherlands, an expansion project for theInstitue Valencia d’Art Modern in Spain, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York.Their awards include the Golden Lion Award at the ninth International Architecture Exhibition inVenice in 2004, and the Armold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in 2002.

Shifting the volumes in relation to each other allows for elements such as skylights. As the relationbetween core and envelope vary, different lighting conditions and proportions arise.

The gaps created by the criss-crossing of the boxes allow for elements such as terraces.

© Iw

an Baan

Section 1F Plan

3F Plan

7F Planmechanical roof

terrace

mechanical

multipurpose room

multipurpose room

office

education

gallery

gallery

gallery

gallery

gallery

holding

lobby

gallery

gallery lobby cafe cafe

shop

hall

81

2. Program / Section diagram _ The shifting floors create moments wherethe building opens up balconies, views, roof lights.

3. Moments of urban interaction1. Zoning Study _ Basic zoning makes massive static bulk

80

8382

4. Curtain wall options-details

4-1. Brick veneer_Full brick system 4-2. CMU System 4-3. Corrugated aluminum liner panel

4-4. High Performance Concrete System

5. Developing clip detail

6. Computer model to map the wind and snow/ice load

27.07223.21419.35515.49711.6397.7813.9220.064-3.794-7.652-11.511-15.369-19.227

Global Mx(N-mm/mm)

Provided by Jam

es & Taylor

7. Fabrication of expanded metal mesh

Energy flow through the facade

240W/m2 300W/m2 255W/m2 180W/m2 56W/m2

The massing of the building seems to be staggered;

boxes set upon boxes - they are jogged, but are also

based on proportion studies, as you mentioned

before - they reflect how SANAA engaged the

volumes programmatically?

Each program element occupies one box. The boxesare stacked on top of each other on a tight urban site,so the progression through the building becomesvertical. In order for the user to have a connectionback to the city, the boxes shift back and forth andcreate openings (skylights) that visually connect backto the sky or become terraces that visually connectback to the city. Typically in NYC, buildings aremaximized to the zoning envelope. This creates ablock volume in which the front façade becomes thesurface treatment, and the user moves through thebuilding with little connection to the volume of thebuilding. By not maximizing the zoning envelope, theboxes were given room to shift. This then activated allfour sides of the building, creating a volumetricshape that the user can engage. <fig. 2, 3>

It is very smart to engage the programs as

volumetric studies and relate these to zoning

requirements. How did SANAA choose the

materials for the external façade?

We’ve been researching various materials, butoriginally the façade was thought of as very flat andclean, with hardly any visible joints. The boxes hadvery crisp and defined edges, but we began to realizethat this kind of precision did not fit the gritty urban

8584

Collaborators for the New Museum andthe Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion

The role of the project architect is increasingly critical: As architectural practices increasingly rely ongeographically dispersed networks of collaborators and consultants, the project architect at the center of thenetwork increasingly must interpret the goals of the team. Moreover, this person is charged with finding andacting preemptively to secure experts across a broader geographical industry and from an array of possibleoptions. This role must satisfy the needs of the client, but also those of the collaborators and the architect,especially since primary decision-making is increasingly regulated early in the design process by cost in ourcurrent industry. SPACE interviewed Toshihiro Oki, who worked as a project architect for the two SANAAprojects built in the U.S., namely the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, which presented solutions to energyproblems of glass buildings to great acclaim, and the New Museum with its delicate finishing touches at work toachieve the image of controlled boxes. Together they form a controlled architectural aesthetics unique toSANAA. In this feature we pay attention particularly to the inside stories of the numerous studies andexperiments in the process of completing SANAA’s aesthetics.

Eunjeong Seong: Let’s start with the New Museum project in New York City.

You’ve been a project architect for two major projects in States; what differences

do you see?

Toshihiro Oki: SANAA won the New Museum competition in 2003. It was acompetition that required a proposed design, so the office had to jump right into thedesign. While Toledo was horizontal and plan-driven on a spacious bucolic site, theNew Museum was vertical and volume-driven on a tight urban site. The designatedzoning envelope was very important because it defined the parameters in which theboxes could shift. <fig. 1>

Interview Toshihiro Oki (SANAA’s New York Office) + Eunjeong Seong (New York Correspondent)

Material provided by Toshihiro Oki

INTERVIEW

In order for the user to have a connection back to the city,the boxes shift back and forth and create openings(skylights) that visually connect back to the sky or becometerraces that visually connect back to the city.

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, SANAA, 2006.The spaces, each containing a different function, are arranged and shaped to separate gently but also to connect. The "inbetween"spaces, a result of the independent shapes, function as a dynamic buffer, sometimes emphasizing closeness,something strengthening the distance.

© C

hristian Richters

8. Plan Diagram - Process

9. Energy flow through the facade

Unconditioned cavity,-5 C

Air heated cavity,supply along outerfacade

Air heated cavity, airsupply along innerfacade

Radiation heating byfloor and ceiling andreduced air rate forcavity

Direct glass heatingand reduced air ratefor cavity

Unconditioned cavity,-5 C

Acceptable glasssurfacetemperatures in theroom

Acceptable glasssurfacetemperatures in theroom

Acceptable glasssurfacetemperatures in theroom

Increased glasssurfacetemperatures in theroom

Limited losses throughreduced temperaturedifferences andconvective heat

Maximal losses throughreduced convective heattransfer coefficient atvery cold outer facade

Slightly reducedlosses through betterresistance along theouter glazing

Reduced lossesthrough reduced airvelocities and thereforeincreased surface

Minimized losses anddirect heating ofcritical surface

Works for cooling Works for coolingRadiative surface canbe used for cooling oras radiative heat sink

Limited cooling dueto reduce air flow

Analysis of energy flow through the facade _ Left lite is an exterior glass and right is an interior one. And top is ceiling and bottom is

floor. From unconditioned in interstitial space to conditioned one with heated air changed to work this space as buffer zone without too

much of loss of energy and avoid condensation.

provided by Transsolar

8786

site, nor could such precision be feasibly obtained in the current construction environment. We thereforestarted broadening the search to rougher and industrial materials that could take on the site and theenvironment. Eventually, we decided on expanded metal mesh. Its roughness and surface contortions hadmore depth and variation, thus more possibility of rendering. This undefined blurry quality interested us.

I went down to the Museum recently and I couldn’t see the connections between the expanded metal panels.

How did SANAA make a detail that does not to show the seam between two panels - each panel must have a

limited size? How did you set your goals and form a mindset to make this understated detail?

A monolithic appearance of the mesh material over the boxes was one of the biggest goals, but mesh panelscannot be fabricated in such large sizes; therefore, instead of fighting the fabrication system, we had to utilize itto our benefit. However, we also realized that it doesn’t need to be the exact way the industry prescribes it. Atthe beginning, everyone told us that the mesh panels should be unitized into some sort of a system, so that it iseasy to install in the field. The typical way is to mount the mesh into a frame that sets into a gridunder-structure. But we felt this defeated our intention, because this system felt so commercial, as if theeconomy of the building industry were setting the parameters. So we spent a lot of time exploring how thiscommercial system could be undone and redone in another simpler system that allows the mesh to be free ofany framing. This is where we developed the idea of overlapping the mesh panels at the vertical ends to create afish-scale type system. This overlap actually worked to the contractor’s benefit, because he could use thisoverlap as a field-adjustable tolerance. Therefore, if the overall built wall dimensions were slightly off from theconstructions drawings (which happens often), the contractor could adjust each overlap slightly to still coverfrom one corner of the building to another corner of the building, without having an effect on the overallappearance of the mesh. Our decision to use the overlap made the contractor happy because he knew it wouldmake his installation easier, and thus less costly and problematic. We were happy because the mesh wouldappear monolithic. We were both happy, and the construction proceeded smoothly, with everyone set on thesame goal.

As you mentioned earlier, New York is such a hard place to work due to all sorts of

requirements by law, difficulties like schedules, very tight working spaces, transportation

logistics, etc. - these difficulties also are related to higher costs. How did SANAA attempt to

control the costs, and still not lose the designer’s intention?

This is a good point. We knew from previous projects that a design is only as good as itsexecution, so we needed to make sure that all of our designs were feasible in the New Yorkbuilding environment. But again, we didn’t want to do the standard procedures, so in order tomeet design, cost, schedule and feasibility parameters, we had to analyze everything in amatrix format, where all possible options were gauged against the parameters. For example,with the backup wall, we were looking for a monolithic background material for the mesh, butit needed to be simple to apply, cost-effective as a material, fire-resistant according to code,and able to accommodate all the penetrations from the mesh attachment clips. We analyzedmany different wall options, such as high-performance concrete, insulated metal panels,curtain wall metal panels, smooth monolithic spray membranes, concrete masonry units, andeven brick. Upon all this research, we concluded that custom extruded aluminum panels witha small corrugated surface pattern would best perform to our criteria. The real impact came

from the fact that extrusions can be madein any shape, since the cost is in makingthe original dye. After that, you only pay forthe amount of material that is extruded.We saw that with a little more money usedup-front to make the dye, we could makethe extruded panels that exactly fit outspecifications, without any up-charge forthe rest of the order. All the other wallsystems required a lot of effort to evenslightly modify the system, since each wallpanel would need to be modified, so thecustom-extruded panels were mostcost-effective. <fig. 4>

After several in depth research phases, it was

decided to do the rear supported panel system with

a corrugated panel. What about the connection

between the back panel and expanded aluminum

mesh?

So now we had to develop the clips to hold theexpanded mesh panels. The clip evolved from a flatsteel clip with slip connections to a round thindiameter rod. After the full scale façade mockup wasdone, we really saw that the flat steel clip was justtoo much of a presence. The flat area cast shadowson the backup wall. It gave too much of a mechanicalfeel to the idea of floating mesh, so along withMcGrath (façade contractor) and James & Taylor(engineer and supplier for the mesh), we started torethink the clip design. Again, cost was the biggestparameter, but James & Taylor developed a designthat used a standard 10mm-diameter stainless steelrod and coined the ends to make a flat surface forriveting to the wall and mesh. The rod was much lessvisible than the flat plate, and it also fit within thebudget. We also tweaked it further by placing the clipat an angle to reduce the profile from below. <fig. 5>

What other aspects of the exterior material did you

seek - or add?

We had a number of criteria that were important to

us. They included the shape of the mesh diamonds, the size of thediamonds and panels, fabrication tolerance of the panels, and bright,consistent anodizing. And of course, there was schedule and cost. Wedid a world search and the only fabricator who could supply mesh thatmet our criteria was Expanded Metal Company teamed up with James& Taylor. They were able to pull together their network of people whomthey’ve worked with in the past, so their team was “well-oiled.” For theshape and size of the mesh diamond, they fabricated a custom-sizeddye to stamp the mesh to the module size that fits the building. Forfabrication tolerance, they had enough experience with this size meshto know how to handle the variables. Also, the anodizing was a specialmethod they had developed. This method produces bright anodizingwithout the expensive and toxic process that the conventional methodrequires. <fig. 6, 7>

I would like to talk about the other SANAA project, the Glass Pavilion, in which you participated. As an

architect myself, I can see that this project is very significant not only for the materiality of the glass and the

reflected landscape inside of the building, but also because it gives us a new paradigm, or form, for the plan

drawing. The cavity space in the Glass Pavilion expands and contracts to organize the main spaces. It allows

us to read the drawing in a completely opposite way, meaning we pay attention to the cavity space in a way

that we never would have in the conventional drawings. The effect of this is a very enigmatic spatial quality

that we’ve never experienced before. You are almost always faced with two or more layered surfaces of

straight and curved glass. The different distances between the surfaces and the different degrees of

curvature of the glass continually expand and contract the cavity space. Can you describe how SANAA

approached this project, in brief?

In 2001, the Toledo Museum of Art selected SANAA to design a new building to house theirextensive glass collection. The selection process was unique in that the museum’s criteria werebased on the type of office they would like to work with, as opposed to a presented competitionscheme. By doing this, the design developed and evolved, with the museum as a partner from thevery beginning. The Toledo museum complex includes a Beaux-Arts style art museum built in theearly 1900’s, as well as the University of Toledo’s Center for Visual Arts, designed by Frank Gehry.There are also some connecting green areas with tall old growth trees that create a rather bucolicsetting. We selected the site of the Glass Pavilion by combining one of the existing parking lots anda grove of this tall, centennial oak tress. The Pavilion actually sits where the parking lot used to be,and slides right under the leaf canopy of the oak trees. None of the trees were disturbed. And bykeeping the building as a one-story structure, the neighbor’s sight lines to the museum were keptintact. The intention was to ease naturally into the site, without much disruption.

The site could make it difficult to produce order during an architectural process. Can you

describe how SANAA organizes the spaces and this type of a unique plan?

The museum program was laid out in concordance with the adjacency requirements serving as aguide. This caused the layout to gravitate to a certain configuration. Thinking about movement

between spaces, we realized that diagonalconnections at the corners allowed moreflexibility in circulation. This diagonalconnection led to curved corners, which inturn led to the idea that each space wouldhave its own walls. Typically, two adjacentspaces share a wall in-between, but thislocks the spaces together, since the dividingwall dictates the division. By giving eachspace its own independent walls, the spacescould then slide past each other in a morefluid manner. Also, you could actually movefrom one space to the next without actuallyleaving the room, through doors. Theresultant cavity space became a thermalbuffer zone, like an expanded IGU(Insulating Glass Unit). This thermal bufferwas critical in allowing the use of all glasswalls. Without it, the concept of all-glasswalls could not work. It is funny, but the

plan drawing showing the cavity walls confused somepublications. A few editors wrote back, asking us toshow the wall thickness because they couldn’t findthe typical thick wall lines (laugh). <fig. 8>

Are you saying the cavity space wasn’t thought

about from the start?

SANAA didn’t start with a preconceived form. Theprocess of figuring out the program produced theform as you see it now. It was process-driven.

The entire exterior wall is, of course, glass. Can we

talk about the material itself in more detail?

There were two important engineering aspects aboutthe reality of using glass. One was to make thethermal buffer cavity zone work with all glass walls,and the other was to create a thin roof supported byinvisibly thin columns, so that it makes the roofappear to float above the glass walls. The exteriorwalls are all glass panels made up of + low-iron laminated annealed glass with a PVB(polyvinyl butyral) interlayer. The joints between the

There was a lot ofresearch and testing doneto integrate the curtainsinto the mechanicalsystem while still keepingto the design intentionsof the building.

10. Energy flow through the facade

11. Study of location of shading device forreducing amount of heat gain along the idea ofradiant heat and low velocity airflow analysis. 12. Daylighting Sun study 13. Curtain mock up 14. Mock up Test

Environmental design/CFD Thermal Analysis(Provided by Transsolar, Stuttgart, Germany) _ While the pure air solution increased

the heat losses due to the increase surface losses, an alternate solution with heat supply by radiation through the floor and ceiling

surfaces, should allow to temper the facade buffer without huge air rates. Temperature on floor and ceiling in cavity: 35°C, reduced

supply air in cavity: 1 m/s or 5 ac/h The heat supply by radiation heats the glass surfaces not by the air, but in a direct path.

Therefore the air temperature in the cavity can be reduced to 12.5°C and with the only minimal reduced surface resistances, the

heat losses through the facade drop to 180 W/m2 or by 40%. The inner surface temperatures facing the room keep the level of 15

-25°C, out of the condensation range.

Aside of the balance method the CFD evaluations confirmed the approach to reduce the air flow rate through the radiant system .

by factor 4! -, with strong consequences for the size of the ducts, solving strong conflicts with the structural concept. As a side

effect, the radiant heating system can be used in summer as a radiant cooling system, absorbing radiation before it heats the air

and has to be removed by an air flow.

provided by Transsolar

provided by ARU

P Lighting

without shading

with internal shading with cavity shading

8988

glass panels are wide silicon joints, with a clear gasket spacer inside to keep the silicone andPVB separated. Silicone can cause PVB to become delaminated. The flat glass panels follow the8 -0 building grid, so one size fit all straight wall locations. The curved panels were categorized intoset radii and perimeter lengths, keeping the number of slumping molds to a minimum in order tocontrol cost.

As you mentioned earlier, the cavity space is making a significant contribution as a thermal buffer. Can you

talk about the cavity space in terms of mechanical engineering? How did you address the thermal issues of

the interstitial space?

While the transparency of glass allows the visitor to see from one space to the next, it also allows thermalenergy and sunlight to enter into the building; therefore, an engineered analysis needed to be done tounderstand the parameters and what options were available to control these. For example, the cavity spacewas analyzed with different thermal concepts. These five diagrams show these concepts, with calculatedthermal movement between the exterior and the interior. <fig. 9>

A series of options seem to have been very carefully done with this expertise. Matthias

Schuler of Transsolar stated that the building was impossible to execute without this kind

of engineering support. It is truly a great collaboration with consultants who seem far more

like full-fledged collaborators. What is the general mechanical concept?

Yes, we were lucky to have Transsolar. Matthias is like a mad scientist, but his creativity ofthinking is what allowed new thermal concepts to develop, thus allowing our design tobecome a reality. Also, we were operating under a tight budget, so the design not only had tobe feasible, but also cost efficient. Using the cavity concept, Transsolar used CFD(computational fluid dynamics) <fig. 10> thermal analysis to conclude that a combinedsystem of radiant heating-cooling and low velocity air flow was the most efficient way toutilize the buffer between the all glass walls. This system allows the interior spaces toremain at the required temperature, while eliminating condensation on the glass and theneed to pump a lot of heated air into the cavity. In other words, the cavity can act as a buffer,instead of a siphon. In addition, the Hot Shop spaces - where visiting artists blow glass andhold classes or demonstrations - provide a lot of excess heat that is in turn pumped back intothe building systems for reuse. The gallery spaces are zoned separately from the Hot Shopsdue to different temperature and humidity requirements. The galleries have floor air supplydiffusers towards the middle of the spaces and 1” wide return air gaps between the glasswalls and the ceiling, along the perimeters. This allows for proper air circulation.

There is a now relatively new book titled “Inside Outside” by Petra Blaisse. She showed the Glass Pavilion

project in a significant way, not only for the energy issues and solutions, but also the client’s need to separate

the programmatic spaces on demand. From an engineering aspect, are these curtains related to heat

transfer?

There was a lot of research and testing done to integrate the curtains into the mechanical system while stillkeeping to the design intentions of the building. Transsolar’s thermal analysis showed that the position of thecurtains within the cavity space had a critical impact on heat gain through the glass. <fig. 11> Also, the overall

locations of the curtains were based on ARUPLighting’s sun-shading studies, showing how directsunlight enters into the building over the fourseasons. <fig. 12> Furthermore, the transparencylevel of the curtain fabric was informed by the level ofsunlight (measured in foot candles) that entered intothe various spaces. Also, the curtain fabric wasspecially chosen - an aluminized fabric made by aSwiss company, called Verosol. This fabric helpsdirect thermal gain back out of the building, creatingan appropriate ambient environment for themuseum’s glass artwork. The combinations of thesetechniques were necessary to meet the museum’srequirements. Then, as the curtains went into theexecution phase, we looked at many differentseaming and attachment methods to find the rightfeel to the curtains. All of the vertical curtain seamswere aligned to the glass wall joints to reduce theamount of visual lines. <fig. 13, 14>

What is the general idea of structure, since there

are two significant elements prevalent, such as thin

columns and roof? (This question was answered by

Brett Schuneider of Guy Nordenson Associates.)

Brett Schuneider: Two things. The first is tounderstand that we collaborated with SasakiStructural Consultants (Masohiro Sasaki), who havea long relationship with SANAA and helped developthe concept for the project. Second, the project canbe defined initially as a simple cartoon consisting of asingle line of the roof and single line of thefloor/ground with glass between - the concept issimple, and therefore open to interpretation anddevelopment (as initiated by SANAA). Sasaki’s ideawas to apply a structure similar to that of the SendaiMediateque in Japan - a stiffened steel plate toprovide as thin a roof structure as possible. Someinitial ideas that we pursued were to use theperimeter glass for partial gravity support. So whilethe implied goal was the minimization of thecolumns, it was clear that the main goal was thethinness of the roof. In order to achieve this in

America (where the Sendai system would be considered radical construction), we began a systematicdevelopment of applicable framing systems for comparison - all based on the principle of approachingequivalent flat plate two-way behavior. These systems included top steel plate stiffened by wide flange sectionsbelow, and more typical wide flange framing at varied spacing with metal deck above. The economics of thesystems studied resulted in the flat frame of wide flange steel sections used in the final design. The entireframe is moment-connected to make both the girders (East-West) and joists (North-South) continuous allowingreduced depth of the framing overall. The girders follow snaking lines connecting the columns, with the joistsstraight and regularly spaced between. The kinks in the girders occur at locations of joists framing in, so thatthe resulting torsion of the kink is resolved cleanly in bending in the joists. The columns are located generally in the cavities between rooms (where possible) - locating the columnsgenerally came after the design of the rooms (for the most effective functioning of those rooms). It was neverclearly discussed, as such and early schemes show a much more regular arrangement, but the final location ofthe columns is not on any regular grid. This is important because there is no discernable pattern to theirplacement to be perceived, and thus they tend to disappear. I often refer to them as "hiding in plain sight." Inaddition, the columns have pins at their tops to allow rotation along the axis of the girders, so as to prevent thetransmission of bending and allow the columns to be smaller, and the majority of the building’s lateral stiffnessis in the exposed steel plate walls of the Lampworking Room (steel plate shear walls where flat and effectivecolumns where the wall is curved) - another example of structure in plain sight that you might not easilyrecognize (even though you see its thickness clearly where the window is inset into it). The coordination of thesystems was the most difficult part of the technical process and required extraordinary coordination andcollaboration between designers. The roof framing at its deepest is 15" (375mm), and the structure sharesdepth with the mechanical systems below (air, roof drainage, and sprinklers) and the roof insulation above. Thegirders are 12-15" deep and extend up into the roof insulation when greater than 12", and the roof framing as a

whole is penetrated and hunched to allow the passage of air,sloped drainage pipes, and sprinklers as necessary. Theinteraction is so complex that every beam was elevated toaccurately document all of the penetrations. <fig. 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 20,>

Everything is thought out; there is not a single item left out.

Brett Schuneider talked earlier a little bit about two aspects

of engineering for this building. What are the specific

engineering aspects that you want to talk about? There was

a goal to keep the roof very thin, but SANAA also located

major mechanical systems - heating, ventilation, plumbing -

that made this difficult. What was the experience to design

such a roof structure like?

We felt we needed to fully understand all the components of the system in order to make sure everythingpossible was done to lighten the appearance of the roof. Everything was double and triple checked thenre-questioned until the engineers turned blue in their faces. I supposed people thought we had gone mad, butwe wanted to make sure it was not 99.99% but really 100%. To further keep a thin roof, all mechanical piping,roof drains, sprinkler lines etc. were pushed up in-between the structural roof members, and beam

penetrations were employed to move thepiping from one structural bay to the next.Then a further layer of coordination wasrequired between the structure, MEP,roofing, and glass walls. While sprinklerlines are pressurized and thus can all run atone elevation, roof drains require a certainslope to allow collected rain water to run inthe correct direction. But this meant thatevery time a drain penetrated a beam alongits sloped run, it would penetrate at adifferent and lower elevation; therefore, allthe penetration holes needed to be markedwith specific elevations, so that each drainline could maintain its required slope. Thiswas a very difficult exercise to control whilekeeping in mind the fabrication andinstallation tolerance of steel.

The scope of global industries that have been

engaged at both Toledo and New York is relied upon

as a network of specialists that SANAA helped find

and coordinate. Also, as mentioned earlier, the

relationship with the consultants seems like a very

coordinated give and take; SANAA’s coordination is

far more extensive than the normal, and it is very

much at the core of the project’s potential. The

development of Internet communications and

globalization has allowed your teams to work

together without having easy geographical

proximity.

At SANAA, we spend a tremendous amount of timeresearching, but also engaging enthusiastic andintelligent consultants/engineers/fabricators givesus new motivation for design, too.

The consultants all mentioned that the architects

gave them new challenges in new realms of work.

Thanks so much for your time and hopefully we’ll

see you with a different project in future SPACE

magazines.

At SANAA, we spend a tremendousamount of time researching, butalso engaging enthusiastic andintelligent consultants/ engineers/fabricators gives us newmotivation for design, too.

15. Superstructure Finite-Element Analysis Model

provided by Guy N

ordenson and Associates

provided by Guy N

ordenson and Associates

provided by Guy N

ordenson and Associates

provided by Guy N

ordenson and Associates

16. Superstructure Construction Photograph 17. Typical Roof Section and Construction Photograph of Typical Roof Girder 18. Typical Column Head Detail and 3d Solid Finite-Element Analysis Model ofBearing at Pin Through Top of Column

19. Pipes penetrate through beams 20. Glass Installation