National Children’s Museum, Phase One
National Harbor, Md.

Thornton Tomasetti completed structural design for phase one of the new 66,333-sf museum on the banks of the Potomac River. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the facility consists of multiple connected pavilions grouped around a central courtyard and will serve as a tool to educate children about green choices and will reflect environmentally friendly and sustainable practices in its exhibits, programs and services. Phase one includes a glass-enclosed arrival pavilion, for which we provided Building Skin consulting services, two three-story exhibit pavilions and a 180-ft. concrete and steel wind turbine tower. Each exhibit pavilion presented a unique design challenge: Pavilion C’s tilted cube form required façade framing to be cantilevered off the superstructure; Pavilion B is shaded by an undulating screen of greenery, for which we worked closely with a living wall consultant to design and coordinate hidden connections between the building structure and the steel framework supporting the planters and vines. Our use of 3D modeling was instrumental in defining the atypical geometries of the pavilions and tower. The architect of record is Kendall/Heaton Associates. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2013, and the museum will seek LEED Gold certification.