91视频

Prime consultant: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Client/owner: University of Michigan
Other consultants: Allied Works Architecture, ARUP, Integrated Design Solutions, Skanska USA

When it came to finding a prime consultant to help on a project for the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Portland-based Allied Works Architecture had to look no further than its own backyard.

Allied Works hired KPFF Consulting Engineers to help design a renovation and addition of the museum. The university had planned the expansion for the last buildable piece of land on its campus, but the property sat along one of the busiest areas of foot traffic on the campus. The project team would need to come up with a functional, attractive space to help house the more than 18,000 works in the museum while maintaining the established flows of pedestrian traffic.

The project team’s solution was to create what the project architect, Chelsea Grassinger of Allied Works, described as “three cantilevered buildings 鈥榓rms’ that reinforced the existing campus circulation, defined new exterior spaces … and allowed the ground floor to be visually and physically open.”

The scale of the cantilevers created a level of complexity that required another innovative solution. KPFF determined that the thickness of the concrete cantilevers could be reduced in some areas without affecting their structural integrity, which helped reduce the amount of materials used while saving construction time. The firm also helped develop a thin, steel support system for maximization of daylight in the building.