2012 Issue

52 MUSEUM | continued from page 51 landscape of the state of Utah. Intended to teach and inspire visitors about the natural world and our place within it, it will cre- ate a distinct architectural and cultural signature for the region,” states Todd Schliemann of Polshek Partnership. The building is located on the East bench just south of Red Butte Gardens. The site has presented some interesting design challenges since the original grade at the east of the building is about 70 feet higher than the west entrance finish grade. This grade change occurs over a distance of about 250 feet for an average slope approximately equal to 28%. Since the building is nestled into the hill and gets daylight from the west, permanent shoring walls (soldier piles) were used to isolate the soil from the structure. Because of the sloping site, the slabs on grade are not all at the same elevation. In some locations, slab on grade butts up against suspended framing. In order to alleviate the soil pressures on the suspended structure, interior mechanically stabilized earth walls were designed and built. Where there is no suspended framing adjacent to the slabs on grade, retaining walls were designed to resist the soil pressures. The roof structure mirrors the slope of the site by incorporat- ing a look we have termed “cascading diaphragms.” The roof is essentially broken up into three main 60-foot sections in the East-West direction, with each dropping in elevation about four feet. Bracing is used between the high and low roofs to stitch the diaphragms together. The museum is just a little over 150,000 square feet of enclosed spaced, with a 2,300 square-foot accessible terrace on the roof. It is divided into three different buildings: the North building, the South building and Native Voices. The North building has admin- istrative offices, lab space, and high-density storage for artifacts and other museum collections. The South building is the public exhibit space. Native Voices is an exhibit dedicated to the Native American tribes in this region. Each of the buildings is seismically isolated by expansion joints. The lateral systems consist of special concrete shear walls for the North and South buildings and special concentrically braced frames for Native Voices. The North and South buildings are separated by an expansive 40-foot, clear, story feature called the “canyon.” Bridges connect the two areas (spanning the canyon) at the third and fourth floors, the longest of which is about 40 feet. The canyon concept is truly an architectural highlight. “The canyon will be a space of inspira- tion, a soaring volume filled with natural daylight and shaped by faceted walls of exposed board-formed concrete. At its western end a large glass opening gives the visitor an unparalleled vista of the Salt Lake Valley,” says Todd Schliemann.