Our first cultural project in the San Diego region

Museum Of Contemporary Art San Diego

San Diego, California, USA

Located in the seaside community of La Jolla, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) provides exhibition spaces for the community, showcasing an internationally recognized collection and a variety of public programs.

Buro Happold provided MEP engineering services for the renovation of the existing 35,000 ft² gallery space, plus an additional 37,000 ft² expansion that quadruples its gallery space and includes a public park as well as outdoor terraces that offer views of the Pacific Coast.

Overall, the new expansion is estimated to outperform the Title 24 energy code by more than 12%.

A renovation of the existing 35,000 feet squared gallery space plus an additional 37,000 feet squared expansion that quadruples the museum’s gallery space

Challenge

Over the years, the museum has gone through several expansions and renovations where it has been difficult to provide consistent systems to date. Our engineers faced two main challenges, the first being to integrate MEP services in a seamless way to realize the desired architectural vision while working in tight conditions, and second, to provide a cohesive centralized system that delivers much-improved energy performance.

Solution

As part of the solution to the first challenge, Buro Happold designed the new gallery air distribution to blend in seamlessly with the architecture. Our team selected a low-level displacement AIRFLOOR^TM system for most gallery spaces. AIRFLOOR^TM is a unique series of domed metal forms which interlock to create a supply air plenum between a structural slab and topping slab. From one or two central injection points below the AIRFLOOR^TM, the air spreads out across the forms. Thermal mass of the topping slab helps further stabilize space temperature and provides a radiant cooling or heating effect. Rather than using unsightly floor grilles, Buro Happold worked closely with Selldorf Architects to develop a unique supply air detail at the base of the walls, which appears as a subtle wall reveal. Air is then returned through ceiling slots orhidden reveals at the top of the walls.

Maximizing height was key, especially where the old auditorium was turned into two levels of gallery space. To link up supply air from AHU’s to the many galleries with AIRFLOOR^TM which happen to sit slab-on-grade, Buro Happold employed a direct-burial HDPE duct system, The BlueDuct® by AQC Industries. Using AIRFLOOR^TM and The BlueDuct® maximizes ceiling heights, and in some cases even allows for galleries to feature no suspended ceiling at all.

For the second challenge, Buro Happold designed a new central chilled-water and heating-hot water plant to serve the new addition and renovation. Central to this is a new magnetic-bearing air-cooled chiller which is ultra-quiet and low vibration as to not disturb the gallery space below. The team also employed new central VAV air-handling units capable of maintaining close temperature and humidity control for the gallery spaces and networked together via anew BMS controls system.

Sited directly on the coast in La Jolla, special care was paid to material and equipment selection to cope with the harsh coastal environment. For example, exposed exterior ductwork, electrical panels and disconnects are constructed of 316 stainless-steel and marine-grade coatings have been applied to air-handling units and condensing units.

Value

Our innovative systems design strategies provide an extremely efficient central chiller plant that consumes approximately 25% less energy than Title 24 energy code baseline air-cooled chillers. Overall, the new expansion is estimated to outperform the Title 24 energy code by more than 12%.