ASHRAE Journal - June 2020 - 36

2020

ASHRAE TECHNOLOGY AWARD CASE STUDIES

FIGURE 7 Building gallery cross section indicating zoning and air distribution concept.

goals. Technologies included frictionless centrifugal chillers, a modular heat-recovery chiller, fan-array
air-handling systems, polarized
ﬁltration systems, and advanced
building automation system measurements and controls.
Where the design team and the
owner team found a new and
innovative process for the project design was the development
of a common language to classify
space requirements with the collections leadership and the exhibit
design consultant. In order to
translate critical temperature and
humidity control requirements,
the ASHRAE Handbook-HVAC
Applications chapter on museums,
galleries, archives, and libraries
was used extensively as an established and proven criteria for the
foundation for discussions with
ASHRAE precision control classiﬁcations of AA, A, and B, guiding
building programming and zone
requirements. Based on the critical requirements of the traveling
galleries, a new designation of
temperature and humidity was
also established as "AA+," reﬂecting the most critical temperature
and humidity requirements. These
classiﬁcations guided the team
during design and construction,
and they were used as a reference
36

ASHRAE JOURNAL

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for the occupied phase to ensure
that project goals were met.

Operations and Maintenance
The design team worked closely
with the State of Tennessee operations and maintenance groups
throughout the design and construction process. Added to the
group was Tennessee's outside owner's rep, the separate museum staff,
a professional museum consultant
team, and a commissioning agent.
This team was involved in understanding and weighing in on system
recommendations, used early virtual reality tools to review service/
access, monitored construction
to conﬁrm systems were installed
correctly and with adequate maintenance, and assisted with the
commissioning process. The complete engagement of the group was
pivotal in owner buy-in, education,
and the long-term success of the
museum.
The building was fully opened
to the public in October 2018. The
building has been owned, operated, and maintained by the State
of Tennessee and the museum staff
through the cold winter months,
with an extreme cold snap in the
month of January. In the ﬁrst winter
of operation, the building's temperature and humidity control system

J U N E 2020

FIGURE 8 Thermal image of as-built gallery.

has been able to maintain the
required temperature and humidity
levels with only a few adjustments
required.

Cost-Effectiveness
As partners with the general
contractor, in a construction
manager at-risk relationship, the
design team received feedback
on cost and budget throughout
each major phase of the project
design to achieve the most costeffective, energy-efﬁcient, and
resilient solution for this building. Based on the Tennessee State
Museum's operational requirements, simple payback analysis
was selected as the driving metric

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ASHRAE Journal - June 2020

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