Spotlight on Entertainment/Hospitality Projects Certain to Boost Texas Tourism

Austin's new Masterpiece

A New Home for Old Masters at the University of Texas

By Rob Patterson

As in every construction job, there is simplicity and complexity in the work at the new Jack S. Blanton Museum at the University of Texas at Austin. And there is far more of the former than the latter.

"It's not a complicated building," said Ken Greico, project manager for Skanska USA Inc. "It's mainly big, high-volume areas. As basic as basic can be. There are no intricate corners or anything. It's just a beautiful space."

The 108,500-sq.-ft. reinforced-concrete structure will not only be the largest university museum building in the nation and the third largest museum in Texas, but also the centerpiece of a new gateway into the university.

The museum - with an accompanying 50,000-sq.-ft. support building and planned 72,000-sq.-ft. plaza and garden - sits a few blocks north of the Capitol building and across the street from the Bob Bullock Museum of Texas State History, which opened in 2001. The Blanton's design and location will make it a natural hub uniting the UT campus with the nearby state government complex and downtown along a north/south axis.

With two stories above ground and two basement floors, the museum will contain gallery space for the Blanton's permanent collection and visiting exhibitions, a print and drawing study center, support and office space and a massive air-handler facility in the sub-basement.

The structural steel and cinder-block shell above ground will be finished with limestone and granite, and the steel-framed roof is a mix of tile and glass skylights. An interior two-story atrium in the building's center lights the entryway and stairs leading up to the second-floor gallery.

Even though its structural elements are basic, "the most significant challenge on this job will be the mechanical systems and the humidity controls that go into a museum of this magnitude," Greico said.

Much of the $58.5 million project cost was raised by contributions totaling approximately $30 million. The fund-raising effort was spearheaded by the museum's namesake, Jack S. Blanton, a retired Texas oilman and former chairman of the UT Board of Regents. The remaining $28 was contributed by the university. The construction cost of the building is $38 million.

Designs on Trial In 1999 a modern, bold design was presented by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. But the university's Board of Regents and the firm were unable to resolve differing visions.

A university master plan outlines certain characteristics that all new buildings must adhere to on the original 40 acres of the UT campus. As well, the aim of making the building site into a significant gateway into the campus influenced the decision to go back to the drawing table.

"The original design architects felt that they would not be able to come to a satisfactory solution for the University of Texas and the Board of Regents and resigned from the project," said Bill Booziotis of Dallas-based Booziotis & Co. Architects, the firm that has served as project architects for the museum from the outset. In protest to the change, the dean of UT's School of Architecture resigned, and an on-campus rally aired university community and local objections to the change.

Eventually, the Boston-based firm of Kallmann McKinnell and Wood Architects Inc. came aboard, bringing along their extensive experience in university buildings and campus plans as well >> as town-and-gown relations. Design architect Michael McKinnell divided the museum itself and much of its educational and support spaces into two buildings with a surrounding plaza.

"You can't make a gateway with only one gatepost," McKinnell said. The site at the southern side of the UT campus and the northern edge of the Capitol complex "generated the design of the building in very large part. It's an extraordinary site at the confluence of the city and the beautiful Capitol. It provided a wonderful framework on which to design."

Gateway to Success The need for a significant gateway came about from what Booziotis, a UT alumnus, called "an awkward time in the university's development." Traditionally, the Littlefield Fountain - northwest of the Blanton site - served as "an extraordinarily powerful gateway to the campus," Booziotis said. "But because the library was built south of the fountain, the traditional gateway was buried in the campus development."

Scheduled to be completed with the museum is the public plaza, budgeted at approximately $4 million. The plaza will serve the role of a village green, uniting the campus with the rest of the city in particular the Capitol area. Along with the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, the area is certain to become a nexus for the campus community, local residents and visitors.

The design team for the plaza includes landscape architect Peter Walker, who is designing the World Trade Center memorial, and Mel Chin. The plaza will be planted with mature trees to frame the view of the Capitol and will feature a sculpture garden. "It was refreshing and invigorating for them to impart an exciting and unique direction to the landscaping," Booziotis said. "I think it will bring a great deal of notice to campus landscape architecture."

The final phase of the project will be the construction of a second building, a smaller, mirror image of the museum that will be situated across the plaza. It will contain offices and academic facilities, an auditorium and lecture hall, cafe and museum shop. Fund-raising is still under way for the $25 million job, with about $10 million in the account so far. Construction is slated to begin by the museum's opening and completed a year later.

The buildings McKinnell developed nods to the Spanish-Colonial Revival elements of many of the existing campus structures. "We believe strongly that universities in their buildings and their physical fabric are the principal guardians of building traditions," McKinnell said. "I believe that galleries should be in the service of the art and not attempt to overwhelm it. So [the design] is a series of simple, classically proportioned rooms.

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"The University of Texas at Austin is composed of a very beautiful palette of materials, so why not use them?"

Local stones such as cordoba cream and phosphorous limestone quarried nearby in Georgetown/Leader and "radiant-red" granite from Fredericksburg west of Austin are key components used in the exterior. An onsite mock-up of the masonry facing, tile roof and dense mahogany soffits (from indigenous Brazilian propagation project sources) serves as a guide for the contractor and suppliers. The Ludowici clay tile on the roof is a UT tradition.

Inside, the shell of reinforced concrete with post-tension stresser cables will be finished with veneer plaster.

McKinnell praised Skanska - a Swedish company with division headquarters in Atlanta and regional offices in Texas - for the company's execution of his concept. "We've got a hell of a good builder producing a wonderful building," he said.

Internal Affairs With the construction of the museum approaching the halfway mark, the job will soon move from what Greico called "concentrating on perfecting the basics" of the structure to the more stringent demands of the museum's interior. Once the building is dried in a month or so and the envelope is tight, maintaining the atmosphere inside becomes a crucial factor.

"The critical thing here is that we have a designated time frame where we have to maintain a real specific humidity level before we move the artwork in," Greico added.

"The American beech wood floor on the second level has to be brought in and acclimated under strict humidity controls." Vedders limestone will be used for the first-story floor.

Also affecting the interior is lighting requirements "Another big challenge is going to be the many sources of light and wide expanses of wall," Greico said. "Different lights can make blemishes show up.

"You may have direct sunlight that makes the wall look one way or indirect, incandescent light that makes it look another way. It's not just a simple job where you can slap up sheetrock and it looks good. Twelve hours from now it may not look so good."

McKinnell said visitors won't see what is costing the money - the extremely demanding lighting and environmental issues that have to be adhered to without being evident or on display. "The galleries have to adhere to very strict standards to host traveling exhibits from other museums, which the Blanton will do," he added.

All Together Now Another area of the project's complexity is the numerous entities involved including the university, its board of trustees and the Blanton Museum staff and board of directors. And because the museum will be tied to the university's electric and chilling systems, the contractors must work with the campus plant staff.

"One aspect of working with the university is that every issue is subject to 15 people's views," Greico said. "Considering the number of people involved, they've done a great job of coordinating."

McKinnell called the interaction between his firm and the client "absolutely extraordinary. If the building is a success, it will be due as much to them as it is to us and the builders.

"You have three important clients when you make a museum - the gallery-goer, the very demanding curatorial staff and the artwork itself. It's a silent but important client and has to be respected in its requirements."
Jessie Hite, the museum's director, said she is excited to see the building rising nearly three decades after the genesis of the effort to build it. "It's thrilling to actually understand the dimensions of it," she added. "The scale of it is impressive."

Key Players:

Owner: The Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
General Contractor: Skanska USA Inc., Parsippany, N.J.
Construction Manager: Ken Greico, Skanska USA Inc, Parsippany, N.J.
Senior Project Manager: Bob Rawski, University of Texas Facilities & Planning
Project Architect: Bill Booziotis and Jess Galloway, Booziotos & Co. Architects, Dallas
Design Architect: Michael McKinnell, Kallmann McKinnell and Wood Architects Inc., Boston, Mass.
Structural Engineer: Datum Engineers Inc., Dallas
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners, New York, N.Y.
Steel Fabricator & Erector: Myrex Industries, Houston
Concrete: Keystone Structural Concrete Ltd., Houston
Masonry: P&S Masonry Inc., Hamilton
Roofing: D.R. Kidd Co. Inc., Round Rock
Milled Wood: Buda Woodworks LP, Buda
Mechanical and Plumbing: J.M. Boyer Inc., Austin
Electrical: Walker Engineering Inc., Austin
Glazing: Win-Con Enterprises Inc., New Braunfels
Waterproofing: Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing Ltd., Houston
Sheeetrock and Ceiling: Starcraft Interior Contractors Ltd., Houston
Wood Flooring: The Invironmentalists, Austin