Virginia Museum of Fine Art

The extension and renovation of the existing Virginia Museum of Fine Arts building creates new exhibition and education spaces for its extraordinary collection of fine and decorative art. Atelier Ten provided full design engineering services through Design Development for the MEP systems as well as daylighting and environmental consulting services. Detailed life cycle cost analyses resulted in the development of design proposals for a major site-wide upgrade of the services infrastructure.

The new design incorporates innovative displacement systems in gallery spaces and the main atrium. These systems were studied extensively with the museum’s facility team to ensure that stringent curatorial requirements were met. The chosen design results in reduced plant size and reduced operating costs as compared to conventional mixed ventilation systems that are typically adopted in museums in the US. Other innovative low-energy options considered include the use of adiabatic cooling, high efficiency chillers, absorption chiller technology and heat recovery.