A key design challenge was balancing the museum’s dual needs for transparency and security. The answer is a design that consists of two distinct parts: The first services as an informal entry to the museum and the second space, the crimson cube, is a climate-controlled space that houses the formal galleries and is enveloped by the crimson façade.”
True Color: Campus gets new space for viewing art installations
The Washington State University Museum of Art is a newly constructed two-story, 16,000-sf building with six galleries. The museum is located on the site of the former Public Safety building, which was partially demolished for this project. The original foundation and concrete T-beams on the second floor remained intact and were retrofitted with the new portions of the building. The facility comprises of light framed shear walls, CMU shear walls, steel exterior stud walls, concrete over composite metal deck, concrete moment frames, and a steel roof structure.
DCI Engineers provided both civil and structural engineering for the museum. The structural team designed a new two story steel addition that formed double cantilevers at the corners of the building. News stairs and an elevator system were added. For civil, the engineering team coordinated the site demolition, site utility, and erosion control plans.
