Restoration Of Guggenheim Museum Begins

William Mack, Chairman of the Board, and Thomas Krens, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, announced the findings of a comprehensive two-year condition assessment of the 1959 Frank Lloyd Wright building, one of New York City's most important landmarks.

"Following our exhaustive investigation of the building's condition, I am enormously pleased to announce that the Guggenheim's exterior and infrastructure will be restored, requiring only limited structural interventions," said William Mack. "The improvements will strengthen our treasured building while conserving Frank Lloyd Wright's original intentions."

Thomas Krens added, "Our team of leading experts in the field of landmark restoration and preservation formulated a methodology – using the latest techniques and materials unavailable to Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1950s – to undertake the restoration and to ensure the long-term health of this 50-year-old icon of modern architecture."

During the last two years, a team of restoration architects, structural engineers, and architectural conservators—led by Wank Adams Slavin Associates LLP (WASA); Robert Silman Associates, PC (RSA); and Integrated Conservation Resources (ICR)—undertook a comprehensive condition assessment which included the removal of 11 coats of paint from the original surface, revealing hundreds of cracks caused over the years, primarily from seasonal temperature fluctuations; detailed monitoring of the movement of selected cracks; laser surveys of the exterior and interior surfaces; core drilling to gather samples of the original concrete and other construction materials; and testing of potential repair materials. Their analysis concluded that Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece is in good structural condition, requiring exterior work to infill cracks, expose and treat corroding steel, to repair and protect all concrete work, and some structural interventions at the 6th floor Rotunda walls.

According to Robert Silman, President, RSA, "Just as Wright pushed the boundaries with the design of the museum, the restoration has pushed the boundaries of its investigation and repair. Before this comprehensive assessment of the building's condition, several previous studies had been completed, but there were always unknowns, assumptions, and simplifications. Buildings rarely have the advantage of an owner willing to invest in such a thorough and comprehensive investigation, which resulted in a more sensitive and complete restoration."

Pamela Jerome, AIA, Partner, WASA, said, "Frank Lloyd Wright, who was always at the cutting edge of technology and frequently ahead of his time, is also notorious for the failures of his buildings, often structural in nature. Although some remedial reinforcing is necessary, our investigation revealed that Wright's radical design for the Guggenheim was irreproachable."

Glenn Boornazian, President, ICR, added, "Just as Frank Lloyd Wright was on the cutting edge of using materials, he forced us to think of solutions in unusual ways." Mr. Boornazian elaborated, "Throughout his career, Wright was always experimenting with materials and methods. At the Guggenheim he was looking for a material that would allow him to make the surface of the building appear monolithic [without breaks], an appearance which was an essential aspect of his design. He was probably the first to use spayed concrete otherwise known as gunite on a large architectural scale which allowed him to create the smooth, unbroken curves. The monolithic appearance was so important that a conscious decision was made to leave out expansion joints which would have created visual vertical breaks."

The building is at once art, architecture and structure. All decisions had to balance these elements to preserve the appearance and performance of the iconic building – judged by many to be one of the architectural "wonders of the world." Structurally this presented several challenges that required creative solutions including the use of carbon fiber fabric reinforcing on the interior face of the 6th Ramp walls. A matrix of carbon fiber recreates the intended structural capacity of the wall required to resist temperature and wind loads. Wright was a proponent of new construction methods and materials so it is believed he would approve of the use of this material.

Scope of Work

Much of the interior of the building was restored during the 1992 renovation and addition by Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects. The present restoration primarily addresses the exterior of the original building and the infrastructure. This includes the skylights, windows, doors, concrete and gunite facades and exterior sidewalk, as well as the climate-control. The goal of the restoration project was to preserve as much significant historical fabric of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as possible, while accomplishing necessary repairs and attaining a suitable environment for the building's continuing use as a museum.

Under the supervision of WASA project architects and structural engineers at RSA, both of whom worked on the restoration of Wright's "Fallingwater" in Bear Run, PA, extensive on-site monitoring of the façade was performed, including laser scanning measurement of the building, materials testing, comprehensive documentation of structural elements, exploratory probes, non-destructive testing and advanced computer analysis of the building's structural elements.

The monitoring program measured localized movements of cracks as well as overall movement of the walls. Crackmeters, tiltmeters, string potentiometers, temperature sensors, linear potentiometers and convergence meters were located throughout the building; a special focus of the monitoring was on the exterior walls. The data was used to understand the direction and magnitude of the wall movements and the magnitude of crack movements. This information was then correlated with the structural analytical model. Daily movements and seasonal movements were studied. -- www.guggenheim.org