| National Museum of the American Indian
Washington, D.C.
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National Museum of the American Indian
Located in the National Mall in Washington D.C., the $200-million
National Museum of the American Indian opened to the public on September
21, 2004. The 210,000 square foot, five-story museum, expected to
be the last Smithsonian facility built in Washington, D.C., evokes
nature with its stone cladding façade intended to resemble
a solid piece of weathered rock. Contractors faced challenges building
the structure, which incorporated a curvilinear form on a 4.25-acre
trapezoidal site that sits atop an active creek bed. One design
highlight includes crystal prisms, installed facing south to catch
the sun’s rays, that reflect the continually changing light
spectrum.
Concrete framing using flat-plate construction helped in keeping
the floor-to-floor height at a minimum, thereby maximizing the number
of floors while remaining within the Capital’s maximum building
height restriction of about 130 feet. The ability to locate building
frame columns in a “shot-gun” layout allowed the architect
the flexibility to change column locations to accommodate architectural
requirements while maintain the structural integrity of the frame.
This type of column placement essentially means that columns do
not have to line up between floors and the vertical load transfer
is achieved by “walking the load” thru the slab from
the column above to the column below.
Another key advantage of conventional flat plate systems is the
reduction of floor to floor heights which significantly reduced
the cost of formwork and building frame. Because of simplicity in
construction; the flat plate lends itself to the use of conventional
formwork while the lower floor to floor heights allows for the use
of conventional stick shoring.
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One of the main features of this structure is its exterior form
which consists of a combination elliptical curves that change both
shape and location between floors. The architect’s design
called for a stunning tan building, layered in swooping levels of
Minnesota limestone rounded to depict the curves of the earth, sun
and moon. The ability to economically construct this type of “flowing”
building facade was achieved by the fact that cast-in-place concrete
can be easily formed and placed to achieve the desired effect. A
complex shape of this nature inevitably requires a tremendous amount
of coordination between all building trades and field changes during
construction are unavoidable; however, concrete was also viewed
favorable in this aspect because field changes were faster which
minimized project delays.
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Architect: Douglas J. Cardinal Architect LTD
Structural Engineer: Severud &
Associates
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