While many art museums have lawn sculptures to draw visitors in, the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh has taken the concept a step further. Within the museum’s 164-acre (66-hectare) park, the sculptures are more than just works of art; they serve functional purposes, as well. Designed by artists, the pieces are integrated into the infrastructure of the park and serve as seating, footbridges, gateways and, most recently, a shelter.

Credit: JAMES WEST/J WEST PRODUCTIONS

As visitors to the park walk along the museum trail, they come upon a stand of trees and a structure in which to rest and look out on a prairie. The 750-square-foot (70-m2) Lowe’s Park Pavilion, made possible in part through a grant from the North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, is a work of art that provides shelter while blending with the surrounding landscape. Artist and exhibit developer Mike Cindric of Raleigh- based Design Dimension teamed up with Vincent Petrarca, a partner in the Raleigh- based architectural firm Tonic Design, to create an open and inclusive design process to achieve these goals.

The design team was given two site options on the park campus—one in a valley and one in a meadow. After reviewing the sites with museum curators, educators and the design department, structures were designed for both areas. The position on the meadow ultimately was chosen as the location.

“We wanted our design to take advantage of some underused areas,” Petrarca says. “From the formal trail, visitors can walk onto metal building metal building a boardwalk that leads through a grove of trees and into the structure. It’s a focal point that draws people in and expands their vision outward toward the rest of the park.”

Credit: JAMES WEST/J WEST PRODUCTIONS

CONSTRUCTING A WORK OF ART

To make a connection between the site, landscape and building, the design team at Tonic Design, which included several interns from the school of architecture at nearby North Carolina State University, Raleigh, wanted the interior of the structure to be as open as possible. That meant no interior columns. It was decided that steel was the best framing material for the job.

“We always seem to use metal in some way,” Petrarca comments. “We like to have large volumes of space in our projects that create a hierarchy of how the program is distributed.”

Using metal is especially convenient for Tonic Design because its sister company and construction arm, Tonic Construction, has its own fabrication shop. Petrarca is a partner in the construction company, as well. Together, the two companies offer a variety of services.

“We can design a project and have any contractor build it; we can design a project and build it ourselves; or we can build another architect’s design,” Petrarca says. “This has created our construction-led design philosophy. We are better designers because we build.”

It certainly helped to have the design and construction teams in one place for this project. The majority of the framing was fabricated in Tonic Construction’s shop, where the pieces were welded together. “The construction system was a kit of parts. We could prefabricate as many components as possible in the shop and then field-assemble them like tinker toys,” Cindric explains. “The system minimized field construction and maximized efficiency and accuracy.”

As framing components were being fab- ricated in the shop, work was being done on the site to prepare for erection. A transept was used to set the locations of cast concrete piers. The 6-foot- (1.8-m-) deep holes for the piers were drilled with a 2-foot- (0.6-m-) diameter auger bit. The concrete then was poured and the frame erected by Tonic Construction.

In addition to allowing for the 38-foot (12-m) interior clear span, the metal struc- tural system resists lateral forces by way of moment connections and eliminates cross bracing for an even more open feel. Steel framing also was used for the benches in the pavilion. “We created three steel-framed storage boxes that hold chairs, tables and art supplies,” Petrarca says. “The benches are clad with frosted acrylic and lpe wood seats.”

BRINGING THE OUTSIDE INDOORS

Although the building is intended to pro- vide shelter, the designers wanted it to be as unobtrusive as possible. For this reason, per- metal building forated aluminum panels clad the walls. The 0.063-inch- (1.6-mm-) thick aluminum has a 1/4-inch (6-mm) round and 5/16-inch (8-mm) staggered perforation pattern. The bare panels were provided in two different sizes: 32 by 120 inches (813 by 3048 mm) and 16 by 120 inches (406 by 3048 mm).

“Two panel heights allowed us to break down the elevation of the building by creating varying bands spaced 2 inches (51 mm) apart from each other,” Petrarca says.

The appearance of the panels changes with the time of day and the lighting available. It makes the building seem opaque or transpar- ent, depending on the angle. The metal also can pick up the colors of the sky and land- scape and allow the breeze to flow through the pavilion. “The skin material makes the static building kinetic,” Petrarca observes.

Credit: JAMES WEST/J WEST PRODUCTIONS

AWARD-WINNING DESIGN

The pavilion opened to the public in August 2007. Dan Gottlieb, the museum’s director for planning and design, says: “This is a major element in connecting the museum to the community. It’s the gateway between the built and the unbuilt, between the formal interpretation of art in the museum’s indoor spaces and the recreational experience outdoors.”

The structure’s beautiful and unique aesthetic earned the pavilion this year’s metalmag Architectural Award in the Metal Building category. “The structure has a pres- ence that is a striking contrast to the roll- ing field but still integrates to the broader context with respect and grace,” comments competition judge Blake Mourer, AIA, LEED AP, senior associate and design director at Gensler in Denver. “The chameleon-like effect of the structure sometimes reflects light and allows the pavilion to dominate the context while other times it becomes fully transparent when back-lit.

“The space created is one of discovery,” Mourer continues. “It allows the user to define the desired view and create a moment of con- nection to the architecture and landscape.”

The pavilion truly is a functional work of art that will be enjoyed by museum visitors and school children who are there to learn about art. And when its useful life is over, the steel framing and perforated panels can be recycled and turned into something new.

Krista Hovis writes about architecture and metal construction from Kansas, Ohio.

Credit: JAMES WEST/J WEST PRODUCTIONS

LOWE’S PARK PAVILION, RALEIGH, N.C.

ARCHITECT

Tonic Design, Raleigh, www. tonic-design.com, and Design Dimension Inc., Raleigh, www.designdimension.com

GENERAL CONTRACTOR AND STEEL FRAMING FABRICATION

Tonic Construction, Raleigh, www.tonic-design.com

ENGINEERING

Kaydos-Daniels Engineers PLLC, Raleigh, www.kaydos-daniels.com

PERFORATED METAL

3,200 square feet (297 m2) of perforated aluminum panels from Direct Metals, Kennesaw, Ga., www.directmetals.com