Greening the news: The Newseum is environmentally friendly without being LEED certified
by Jonathan McGaha | October 25, 2010 12:00 am
It seems that everyone today is crazy about going green. And while many new buildings are designed to achieve LEED certification, not all sustainable projects are. Many, like the Newseum in Washington, D.C., include a variety of green features without LEED certification.
Last April, the Newseum opened its doors to the public. Located at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street NW, between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, the 250,000-square-foot (23,225- m2) interactive museum includes 35,000 historic newspaper front pages going back nearly 500 years; 6,214 artifacts excluding newspapers and photographs; and 3,800 images-cartoons, comics, front pages, photographs and other graphic elements- on display in the galleries and walkways. The seven-story building is also home to 15 theaters, 14 major galleries, 12 additional exhibit areas, a 4-D time-travel experience, two television studios and 130 interactive stations. The Freedom Forum, Washington, D.C., a nonpartisan foundation, is the main funder of operations for the Newseum.
The museum is part of a 643,000-square-foot (59,735-m2) complex that also includes Wolfgang Puck’s three-level restaurant, The Source; a 152-seat food court; two-level museum store; a 24,000-square-foot (2,230-m2) Knight conference center; staff offices; and the 146,000-square-foot (13,563-m2) Newseum Residences featuring 135 apartments. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami, contributed a $25 million grant toward the Newseum, giving the Knight name to two broadcast studios and the conference center.
Inspired by the many ways people receive news, Polshek Partnership Architects, New York City, designed a building that is a visually open and intellectually accessible stage for the public to learn about and interact with the process of news making throughout history. The Newseum’s exterior façade features a 74-foot- (23-m-) high engraving of the First Amendment on 50 tons (45 metric tons) of Tennessee marble, along with immense walls of glass.
“The building’s forms, which articulate the concepts of layered information, transparency of ideals and accessibility of the news, are comprised primarily of curtainwall and metal, with only the First Amendment and a connector to the Canadian Embassy being rendered in stone,” said Robert D. Young, AIA, associate partner for design with Polshek Partnership Architects. “The desire to make a building specifically of its time, linking itself contextually to its surrounds more through mass, scale and concept than through material imitation, resulted in a structure that successfully negotiates the distance between the history of Washington and the vibrant present of the District.”
According to Polshek Partnership Architects, the Newseum is composed of three rectilinear volumes, similar to the pages of a newspaper. Separated from one another by 12-foot- (4-m-) wide sky lit circulation zones, the metaphorical pages vary in length and height. Each of the three volumes has its own mission. The first, or “front page” of the Newseum, is the lowest in height, corresponding to the strong horizontal articulation of the Canadian Embassy. A translucent white glass proscenium frames a large recessed clear glass “window on the world” and the marble stone inscribed with the First Amendment. The middle volume is supported by a pair of 250- foot- (76-m-) long trusses that span the 90-foot-
(27- m-) high atrium, the physical and spiritual heart of the Newseum. The east and west elevations are wrapped entirely in glass, articulated by horizontal white glass fins. The third building block houses the exhibits that require total protection from daylight. Its exterior is sheathed in optically reflective glass, and the core exhibits are located below the offices in the black-box nature of the volume.
The Green Scene
While not LEED certified, the Newseum features a variety of green elements.
The Newseum uses occupancy sensors that turn on only when someone enters a room, computerized controlled dimming systems are located throughout the facility, and all lighting fixtures use electronic ballasts and energy efficient lamps. There is radiant floor cooling and heating in the main entrance, Great Hall of News and store space, as well as all bridges. Low-flow metered faucets and flush valves are utilized in all bathrooms to reduce water consumption.
The Newseum has a recycling program for all cardboard, sorted office fiber, plastic, aluminum and glass. A LEED-certified janitorial service utilizes eco-friendly products, tools, supplies and methods. An E-Lampinator is used to compress and safely contain mercury from fluorescent bulbs, CFLs and metal halide lamps. This process exceeds Clean Air Standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Metal applications also add to the museum’s green scene. Cambridge, Md.-based Cambridge Architectural’s metal mesh applications are 100 percent recyclable, meeting LEED requirements for new construction. The SQUARELINE Metal Ceiling Tiles from pinta acoustic inc., Minneapolis, feature 35 to 55 percent recycled material, also qualifying for LEED credits. The ultra mesh tiles are made of expanded metal with 71.4 percent open areas, are durable and are Class 1 fire-rated. The X-TEND2 metal infill panels from Carl Stahl DecorCable Innovations LLC, Chicago, are engineered to reduce on-site waste during installation and are fabricated completely of AISI 316 stainless steel that is durable and corrosion-resistant, requires no caustic cleaners or coatings, and is fully recyclable.
Metal ceiling and wall systems from Ceilings Plus, Los Angeles, are sustainable and contribute to LEED credits. They optimize energy performance by reducing the energy required for lighting and decrease construction waste by being prefabricated to size, significantly reducing field cutting and scrap. The panels can be produced with up to 98 percent recycled aluminum, 75 percent of which is post consumer, and the smooth, dense surfaces of the metal panels minimize opportunities for indoor air contamination. Additionally, the panels do not contain frangible materials that release fibers, dust or VOCs.
Modern Metal
From top to bottom, inside and out, the Newseum includes a wide range of metal products. According to construction statistics, the Newseum features 2,390 tons (2,151 metric tons) of structural steel, 56,200 square feet (5,221 m2) of exterior metal panels and 107,670 square feet (10,003 m2) of exterior glass.
R.A. Heintges, New York City, was the exterior cladding consultant to the architect on all phases of design and construction of the 174,000-square foot (16,165-m2) custom-designed curtainwall and cladding systems. Enclos Corp., Eagan, Minn., supplied more than 90,000 square feet (8,361 m2) of glass curtainwall comprised of nine custom systems, including a state-of-the-art point-fixed cable-supported glass façade as a feature element of the architecture.
“The point-fixed cable wall by our specialty structures group is a highly customized and unique façade design and provides a dramatic feature element to the architecture,” said Gregg Sage, president and owner of Enclos.
American Metalcraft Inc., Atlanta, provided approximately 8,000 panels coated in six colors by Valspar, Minneapolis, on 80,000 square feet (7,432 m2) of wall and soffit areas.
Upper level walkways were designed with 216 pre-assembled panels of X-TEND2 2.36- by 0.06- inch (60- by 1.55-mm) cable mesh railings from Carl Stahl DecorCable Innovations. The railings were premounted on 33-inch- (840-mm-) high rectangular 0.87-inch (22-mm) diameter stainless-steel AISI 316 tube frame. Mounted with the X-TEND Installation Kit #2, the majority of the balustrade infill panels were 42 inches (1,067 mm) wide and the smaller ones were 16 1/4 inches (413 mm) wide.
Inside, the Newseum features 17,000 square feet (1,579 m2) of custom black SQUARELINE UltraMetal Ceiling Tiles in the main atrium, galleries, administrative areas, lobbies and cafeteria that were chosen for their distinct, transparent and unobtrusive appearance. The project features framed and frameless standard and custom-sized ceiling tiles that were modified to accommodate strip light fixtures and structural posts and hooks to support suspended display objects and a video screen. The SQUARELINE metal ceiling tiles were installed in ceiling heights that ranged from 10 to 60 feet (3 to 18 m).
“A central aesthetic focus in the Newseum is transparency, and black SQUARELINE ceiling tiles fit the look perfectly,” said Paul Gallagher from C.J. Coakley, Falls Church, Va., the ceiling tile installation company. “SQUARELINE is a very sound-friendly solution because the open mesh pattern of the tiles allows sound to get trapped in the plenum space. A traditional metal hard ceiling would have created additional unwanted sound reverberation.”
A sleek woven metal mesh fabric application from Cambridge Architectural is installed in the elevators and as a ceiling in the museum’s largest gallery, contributing to the building’s modern aesthetic and unique environment while adding supreme functionality and durability to the space.
In the 8,000-square-foot (743-m2) News Corp. News History Gallery, the Cambridge Architectural mesh panels create a stunning and versatile ceiling system. The custom-painted black panels match the gallery’s design, softly blending with the background to cause the historic newspapers, news books and magazines to stand out. Additionally, the mesh creates a subtle diffusion so the artifacts will not be harmed from intense direct lighting. The gallery features 7,000 square feet (650 m2) of Cambridge Architectural’s Ridge woven metal mesh with a custom painted MeshFX ceiling system. The ceiling panels are specially engineered for easy installation and removal to meet the needs of routine maintenance.
In the elevators, 1,232 square feet (114 m2) of Cambridge Architectural’s Tidal metal fabric, installed with the company’s Panel attachment hardware, provides a virtually indestructible cladding that adds to the smart and streamlined design of the building. The eye-catching woven metal fabric is essentially maintenance free, reducing the need for replacement materials and associated costs.
Both the elevator and ceiling systems allow for controlled acoustics. The clean, streamlined design of the museum creates many hard parallel surfaces on the interior that cause sound to bounce from wall to wall, adding noise to the environment. The Cambridge Architectural mesh breaks up the parallel surfaces, helping to reduce the acoustic liveliness of a room.
Ceilings Plus provided approximately 50,000 square feet (4,645 m2) of ceilings and 80,000 square feet (7,432 m2) of walls in the atrium, gallery spaces and theaters, as well as a small exterior ceiling installation on the underside of the canopy outside the main entrance. A large portion of the interior walls are stair cores and mechanical cores, consisting of 4- by 4-foot (1.2- by 1.2-m) perforated anodized metal panels that extend up to seven stories in some areas, and rounded corners with a tight radius. In other areas, panels as large as 4 feet by 8 feet(2.4 m) were used.
“The architecture alone will draw people tothis site, but the state-of-the-art content inside will be the real attraction for visitors of all ages,” said Charles L. Over by, chairman and chief executive officer of the Newseum.
“With its central location in the nation’s capital, the Newseum is extraordinarily well positioned to foster public awareness of the value of journalism and the First Amendment for generations of Americans,” said Dr. W. Gerald Austen, Knight Foundation’s board chairman.
Newseum, Washington, D.C.
Architect: Polshek Partnership Architects, New York City
Exhibit design: Ralph Appelbaum Associates, New York City
General contractor: Turner Construction Co., New York City
Structural steel: Canam Group Inc., Saint-Georges, Québec, Canada
Ceiling tile installer: C.J. Coakley Co. Inc., Falls Church, Va.
Curtainwall consultant: R.A. Heintges Architects, New York City
Curtainwall contractor: Enclos Corp., Eagan, Minn.
Curtainwall: American Metalcraft Inc., Atlanta
Metal ceiling and wall panels: Ceilings Plus, Los Angeles
Metal ceiling tiles: pinta acoustic inc., Minneapolis
Metal mesh: Cambridge Architectural, Cambridge, Md.
Infill panels: Carl Stahl DecorCable Innovations LLC, Chicago
Coatings: Valspar, Minneapolis
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