America’s oldest modern art museum last performed a restoration on its original mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems more than 40 years ago. The team says the building’s MEP systems desperately needed upgrading to maintain a modern museum environment to protect precious artifacts. The $6.6-million renovation involved converting the gallery spaces to a fully digitized temperature and humidity control system. The work included a structural steel installation to support a rooftop mechanical penthouse addition as well as installations of museum-grade HVAC systems. The team used 3D building information modeling to forecast a complete redesign of the MEP systems and change the layout and program of the mechanical work. 

After demolition of original walls and ceilings began, the team says it discovered that its “existing conditions plan did not reveal important aspects of the space.” That prevented the mechanical equipment from fitting and prevented maintaining ceiling heights required by the building code. The unforeseen conditions requiring re-coordinating the MEP design—and additional changes at the owner’s request—pushed the budget higher than planned. The project was delivered on time, the team says. Quickly moving into a collaborative partnership, the BIM team, project management, architects and engineers used BIM to forecast a complete redesign of the MEP systems and change the layout and program of the mechanical work.

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