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National Architectural Arts Center
The Facility will be comprised of almost 200,000 square feet on various levels. Due to the nature of the site, extensive parking will be contained under the building in order to raise the building above the levee and out of the flood plain. The Great Hall will be the centerpiece and will serve as the primary entry. The Great Hall will consist of over 50,000 feet and will be designed for permanent exhibitions as well as public and private functions. The hall will have a ceiling between 60 and 90 feet which will contain some monumental building facades from various architectural periods. The hall will have a glass front facing the river that will frame the Gateway Arch and the river. The income from the rental of this hall will contribute significantly towards the operational expenses of the museum. Through this hall St. Louis can celebrate its historical past while viewing the Gateway Arch, its most famous contemporary masterpiece. Exhibition Areas The Architectural Arts Center will contain at least four other galleries intended for both permanent and rotating exhibits. The galleries will be tied together so that all four of them can be used for major exhibition if required. One of the galleries would typically be used to showcase new acquisitions and donations to the artifact collection. Rotating temporary exhibits would include themes such as the following: Our Masonry Legacy: This exhibit explores the historical and future uses of the world's oldest and newest building materials. The exhibit illustrates the versatility of stone, tile/terrazzo, brick, and concrete block. Affordable Housing: Getting Attractive, Increasingly Successful: This exhibit surveys the history of affordable housing and how some of the present outstanding contemporary examples illustrate the value of good design in creating successful communities. Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete: This show currently being curated for a 2005 national opening at the National Building Museum involves the wide opportunities for use of this utilitarian material. Concrete has been used for numerous structures of extraordinary beauty and creativity. It has been indispensable for numerous architects and engineers in building some of our greatest landmarks ranging from bridges to residential homes. Up, Down, Across: Elevators, Escalators and Moving Sidewalks: This National Building Museum exhibition displays how our elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks have radically transformed our buildings, our cities, and our lives. As these people-movers have evolved, the materials have also transformed dramatically from basic wood and steel to glass, plastic and rubber. Educational Areas The building would include, at a minimum, the following educational components: 1. 300 seat Auditorium with stage, acoustic design and audiovisual capabilities. 2. Two large all-purpose rooms that could be used for seminars and classes of up to 100 people. 3. Five classrooms that could accommodate at least 30 people. All of the above spaces would be designed as integral parts of the collection and may include ceilings, floors, and walls created from parts of the collection. Some of these spaces could be seamlessly combined with other museum uses above or below the floor or ceiling planes. Offices for the educational and administrative staff of the museum, as well as security and training, would be contiguous to the above facilities. The library would be designed to hold over 150,000 primary items including periodicals, catalogs, manufacturing material, and development models. It would be designed to accommodate over 50 patrons at a time and would include separate docent and research rooms as well as a computer lab for various levels of study and research. A small cafeteria will be integrated into a larger catering kitchen capable of accommodating groups of up to 500 people in the Great Hall. Two large manufacturing rooms will be developed and equipped with kilns and manufacturing lines which will be fully functional for research and serve as educational tools for production of materials. The equipment will consist of old line processes and techniques as well as new state-of-the-art methods. A third building room will contain a 25-foot ceiling and will be used to construct full building facades as well as other construction portions of residential and commercial projects. A 2,000 square foot retail space will be developed to sell a wide variety of products from standard books on architecture and development to products made on site. The retail shop will contain custom terra cotta, brick, and other architectural items that will have been made by the staff and students at the facility. It will have reprints of some of the more popular published items contained in the library. |
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