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johnson museum of art - Monumental Form / Banal Systems

Site Documentation

Ithaca, NY

1968-1973

I. M. Pei & Partners

Location and Views


I.M. Peis Johnson Museum is located at the terminus of the Cornell campus in Ithaca NY. The building itself is composed of three formal parts; the entry zone,
which acts as an outdoor space; the main tower, housing gallery and classroom space; and the horizontal gallery extension, which acts as both gallery and roof for
the sculpture garden below. These moves are used to reinforce I.M. Peis desire to create a monumental form at the end of the campus that, from a distance, does
not obstruct the views to the lake. The desire to have views to the lake creates two specific conditions. Firstly, there is the need to lift the building up at ground level
to allow for views slightly closer to go through the lobby of the building. Secondly, once lifted, there needs to be a hole punched through the building to allow people
farther away views of the lake. These two conditions create interesting spaces that act as exterior spaces, although they are inside the building. Also abiding to the
semi transparent nature of this monolithic building there are strips of windows on the south, east, and west sides of the building.
Formal Articulation of Views
Cayuge
Lake

Johnson
Museum

Beebe
Lake


Our contention for the project is that at large and small scale systems are fairly well integrated however at a medium scale form totally dominates systems
and therefore create very strange conditions that are, in many ways, quite convoluted. We will show this through four major components of the project; structure,
enclosure, passive systems, and mechanical systems.

When looking at the circulation and large scale systems you can see that they were a major driver of the form. Both are positioned in two particular parts
of the building, the legs and the core (These are highlighted in pink to the left of this paragraph). These two major areas are also primary to the structure. The
central circulation core contains all the circulation for the entire building (main stair, fire stair and elevators) except one leg which acts as a secondary fire stair. This
emphasizes that at a large scale the form and systems are very integrated, and even at points the systems are almost a driver of form.
A. SYSTEMS DRIVING FORM

Roosevelt Field Mall

Mile High Center

Place Ville-Marie

Erieview Plan

Government Center Master Plan, University Appartments

Kennedy Theater, Hale Manoa Dormatory

Kips Bay Plaza, Luce Memorial Chapel

Society Hill Towers, Green Building, Newhouse, Washington Plaza

Century Towers

University Village

Pei Residence Halls and Student Union, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Des Moines Art Center, SW Washington Redevelopment Plan, Everson

Cleo Rogers Library, Bedford-Stuyvesant Superblock Plan

Dreyfus Chemestry Building, Columbia University Master Plan, 50+ Air Traffic Control Towers, Sundrome

I. M. Pei Building

Paul Mellon Arts Center

Commerce Court West, Spelman Halls, Johnson Museum

Oversea-Chinese Banking Center, Ralph Landau Building

Dallas City Hall

National Gallery of Art

John F. Kennedy Library

West Wing of Museum of Fine Arts

Indiana University Art Museum, Sunning Plaza, Texas Commerce Tower, Fragrant Hill Hotel

Weisner Building, Fountain Place

Raffles Cty

Bank of America Tower

Bank of China Tower, Meyerson Symphony Center, Carl C Icahn Center, Creative Artists Agency HQ

The Gateway, Shinji Shumeikai Bell Tower

The Towers at Wildwood Plaza

The Kirklin Clinic

Four Seasons Hotel, The Louvre

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Buck Instetute of Research on Aging

Miho Museum

Republic of Korea Permanent Mission to the United Nations

Bank of China Head Office Building

Oare Pavilion, Deutsches Historisches museum

MUDAM, Suzhou Museum, Embassy of the People's Republic of China to the United States of America

Museum of Islamic Art

Macao Science Center

1956

1958

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1976

1977

1978

1979

1981

1982

1984

1986

1987

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1995

1996

1997

2000

2001

2003

2006

2008

2009

Formal Articulation of Systems

1951

Denotes exterior space

131 Ponce de Leon Ave

Main mass then punctured

1949

Main mass lifted from ground

B. FORM OVERPOWERS SYSTEMS

C. FORM AND SYSTEMS ARE INTERLACED

Structure
Large
L
Medium M
Small S
Enclosure
Large L
Medium M
Small S

Structure

Passive
Large L
Medium M
Small
N/A
Mechanical
Large
L
Medium M
Small S


This building, on the large scale, actually has its structure inform the form of the building. This piece of architecture is first and
foremost an exploration in concrete construction. The form is based on the possibilities and limitations of concrete and rebar. Because
the building is concrete it acts strongly in both lateral and compressive loads, with the help of rebar.

At an intermediate scale the form totally overpowers the structure. This is the scale of the human as well as the scale of the
reenforcement of the horizontal gallery space. At the human scale the rebar is used to an utmost extent, it is consistent over the entire
building, floors and walls (#6 rebar at 6 & 12 respectively). The density of the rebar is not scaled to specific parts of the building, this
leaves to over reenforced parts of the building. In the reenforcement of the horizontal gallery the rebar is actually larger (#11 rebar) to
hold the loads, one of the few places in the building where this is calculated rather than just evenly distributed. I this case, as with most
buildings at an intermediate scale, the system of structure is used to help the form as much as possible.

1
7

At the smallest scale the rebar is totally integrated into the concrete as in any well built concrete building. The pours of each day were
well calculated and therefore the details in other parts of construction are able to be executed very effectively.

7
1

Gravity and Lateral Loads

Enclosure


Due to the nature of concrete construction at a large scale either the enclosure works or it fails, badly. In the case of the Johnson
Museum the enclosure works well as a thermal barrier (concrete as thermal mass), a rain screen (concrete effectively blocks moisture),
and as a brise soleil.

At a medium scale enclosure is not as effective as at a large scale. The main reason for this is due to the fact that all of the glazing
is single pane. Due to the single pane glass there are many issues with the building. After talking to the employees these issues include
condensation, leaking, and heat loss. At the medium level there is also a fair amount of insulation which does work well, as additional
thermal barrier in addition to the thermal mas of concrete.

At the small scale the enclosure details are very well integrated. Added into the pour are drip guards to prevent the transmission
of moisture through the poorly installed single pane glass. The glass also has linear diffusers under it to, as best possible, prevent
condensation and heat transfer. Additionally the condition where the building meets the ground is well insulated and waterproofed very
effectively as it drains water quite far from the building.

Insulation

Wood

Waterproofing

Metal

Tile

Passive


The passive systems of the building are not as thought out as many of the other systems. Due to the form of the building there
is a concrete brise soleil or a large overhang on all but one of the windows on the south, west, and east sides. The north side has no
solar shading systems as it naturally gets the least about of sunlight. The windows on the east and west sides that span the height of
the building have a more gradual shading system as the top floors are off-limits to the public and they work as office spaces with limited
need for solar shading unlike the galleries below.

W
Shaded
Non-Shaded


At an intermediate scale the passive systems are fairly poor due to the single pane windows that let a lot of cold air in the building.
This is counter productive to the thermal barrier that is constructed with the concrete and insulation.

At the small scale there are not are passive systems. Bellow are passive elements that could have been taken into account

Ave Rainfall in mm

168

144

172

148

106

87

87

50

26

24

10 8
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Mechanical


At the large scale of entire building systems, for the most part, the system is divided into two parts. There are 2 blowers that supply
the top five floors and there are three blowers that supply the bottom four floors. The ducts on a large scale use the central column
where the circulation is as primary means of distribution. Once branched off of these main columns the supply is in the ceiling and next
to windows, with the return ducted into the hollow space between walls and floor slabs.

Supply


Although at a large scale there is room left over for the ducts and even spaces made to hide the blowers the loads were not
pre-calculated and therefore there are some strange conditions within the building. The divide of upper and lower loads has a strange
connection through a single duct due to uncalculated loads. Additionally once off of the main core the ducts are very tightly winding all
over the ceiling plane and then covered with a drop down ceiling, this is partially due to the huge load on the machanical systems to
make up for the lack of passive and enclosure systems.

Return
Exhaust


As with much of the rest of the building he details of how it is made are expertly poured in the concrete. The doors have supply
ducts to keep the entry to the museum temperate during the cold Ithaca winters. Additionally the casting of perfect angles in the ceiling
allow for seamless integration of the supply into the ceiling while allowing the wall space that is cast to act as a neutral zone for stale
return air.
Single Chase connecting Zones 1 & 2

Upper Return Ducts

Lower Supply Ducts

Upper Supply Ducts

WC

Lower Return Ducts

LAV

VAL

WC

WC

WC

Lower Level 1 HVAC

Anne Judkis

Josh Bransky

Blake Capalbo

Door Supply Detail

Michael Lima

Return/Supply System

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