91视频

The Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum, known locally as the SLAM, is a significant project for the state of Alaska, Hacker Architects founding principal Thom Hacker said.

鈥淚t is the biggest cultural project for the state and required a lot of cultural cooperation,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he building basically houses the collections of native artifacts, which is extremely deep and rich because of the nature of the different tribes.鈥�

Because of the artifacts’ historic nature, fragility and high values, native tribes don’t have ways to preserve them, Hacker explained. But tribes will be able to remove the artifacts temporarily for ceremonial rituals and then return them to the museum for safekeeping.

Tribes throughout the state were involved in the design process for the structure, Hacker said.

鈥淭hey needed conditions for (artifacts) to last for another 10 generations,鈥� he said.

The museum also houses rare books for the Alaska State Library, which required an entirely different set of conditions.

鈥淥ne whole wing of the building is essentially a vault, with varying degrees of humidity and temperature controls,鈥� Hacker said. 鈥淭he controls are not just in one space and the spaces are graded in different ways, according to what the needs are of the artifacts and rare books.鈥�

The vault consists entirely of concrete and concrete blocks faced with terra cotta, Hacker said. Those building materials make the vault able to withstand 110-mile-an-hour winds and temperatures reaching 10 below zero.

For the main public spaces, a concrete column structure and a flexible and spanning structure of wood trusses were used along with wood panels with undulating forms.

鈥淎 lot of people see boat shapes and wing shapes in them,鈥� said Hacker, the project’s chief designer. 鈥淎nd we shaped the roof so that when you’re inside, you can see all the five major peaks 鈥� nearby.鈥�

Underground heat pumps were used for both heating and cooling, he said. Pipes go deep into the ground below the building; the site has tailings from old gold mines that deposited tons of waste sediment. Juneau is far enough south that it doesn’t sit on permafrost, he said, and the heat exchange comes from pipes filled with water from Glacier Bay nearby.

Because of Alaska’s climate, construction times were limited, Hacker said, noting that he took about a dozen trips to the site during almost three years of construction.

The design of the museum was an ongoing discussion, he said.

鈥淎t every trip we took we talked about design concepts and people would come down from different parts of Alaska,鈥� he said. 鈥淎lso, the museum people would go and do outreach to (places such as) the Aleutian Islands and Nome.鈥�

Project Stats + Team

Father Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum

Location: Juneau, Alaska

Cost: $127 million

Size: 120,000 square feet

Construction start date: spring 2013

Construction completion date: June 2016

Owner: state of Alaska

Design architect: Hacker

Architect of record: ECI Architecture

Civil engineer: R&M Engineering

Mechanical engineer: AMC Engineers

Landscape architect: Walker Macy

General contractor: PCL Constructors Inc.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91视频 feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91视频 architecture and engineering reporter Beverly Corbell at 503-802-7224 or [email protected].