The Rare Books Archive Addition to the Milwaukee County Historical Society is a semi-underground building to preserve and enhance Pere Marquette Park. The element protruding from the top, the glass cube, serves as a display case for the Rare Book Vault and a grand entrance. The subterranean building also has the added benefit of not blocking much of the view from the current Historical Society building and allows for the majority of the roof to be green space.
The design budget was $6 million, so I selected a high dollar-per-square-foot of $500 to create a real gem of a building. As a result, fitting in the program took a lot of effort documented in the Program Booklet ».
The Rare Books Addition requires a number of specialized rooms for the storage and restoration performed on the historical materials. The Book Vault is compact shelves in a carefully temperature controlled environment, as in the Print Storage Room and the Staff Work Room. These service elements are aligned along the south and west wall with the Vault in the center.
The 12,000 square foot project use the highest quality materials, such as cut stone for the vault, a complex point-supported glass mullion system for the glass cube and styled concrete walls. The building also has several sustainable features such as a photovoltaic roof, green roof and radiant heating supplied by a geothermal system. The program elements are arranged to take advantage of the slope in the site, with the protected rooms completely underground, and the offices and Reverence Stacks lit from the east wall and reflected light coming from the Cube. Thermal comfort is provided by a radiant heating and chilled beam system installed throughout, minimizing the amount of duct work necessary. Mechanical and electrical systems are contained above the wood-slat ceiling, making for a nice, uniform surface above the Reading Room and Reference Stacks. Lastly, the tunnel provides and unobtrusive, indoor link to the old building.
The project was documented in a set of professional-caliber construction documents.
