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Polshek Partnership Architects
Overview: The New York Hall of Science, one of the country’s premier science and technology museums, is located in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens. The museum gained a major addition to its facility, accommodating the increased visitors with exhibit areas and supporting space. The new building is a long low volume that extends north from, and serves as a horizontal counterpoint to, the iconic “Great Hall” of the original Harrison and Abramovitz building, which housed space travel exhibits at the 1964 NY World’s Fair.
Sustainable Features: The dramatic new wing embraces natural light, in contrast to the dark exhibit halls of the existing building. The new “Hall of Light” is suffused with muted white light, using a translucent fiberglass insulating panel system as envelope for both wall and roof. This choice allows for generous daylight in the permanent exhibit space and significantly reduces electrical lighting requirements. A transparent base, which wraps the northern end of the building, allows passersby glimpses into the Hall’s interior. Sunlight itself plays a role in the main exhibition hall. A “light wall” or solar sculpture at the terminus of the space calls attention to the movement of the sun during the day. The sun, passing through perforated colored metal panels, creates a constantly shifting pattern of color and texture on the wall and floor.
The design team achieved a significant energy savings with these daylighting strategies, as well as low-emissivity glass, additional insulation, temperature stratification in the exhibit hall, a new high-efficiency chiller, variable frequency drives on pumps, and warmest zone controls for the variable air volume system. These sustainable strategies were accomplished under the client’s requirement that any high performance features not add first cost to the project.
Located in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York. Size: 70,000 gross square feet on a three acre site (55,000 gsf new construction, 15,000 renovation). Construction cost of $35,000,000. Building completion October 2004 (Design commenced 2000).
Client Agencies: NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; NYC Department of Design & Construction.
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SET TEXT
Open space protected and restored
