Nancy and Rich Kinder Museum Building

Houston, TX

facade design, special structures Services

Steven Holl Architects Architect

Expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts – facade with a ventilated rain screen construction made of translucent glass tubes

Project

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston has been expanded with two building complexes. The second phase, known as the "Kinder Building," is the centerpiece of the museum, where modern and contemporary art is exhibited. Daylight is deliberately integrated into the design; through meticulous material and form development, along with countless simulations, an intelligent climate and daylight concept was realized. The building's appearance is primarily defined by the so-called "Cool Jacket," a ventilated curtain wall facade consisting of approximately 15,000 square meters of translucent glass tubes.

The new building features side incisions, a flowing roofscape and a defining glass façade that serves as a heat shield.

Facade Design

The facade primarily consists of a ventilated rain screen made of translucent glass half-tubes, a slender stick-built steel façade in the courtyards, some frameless glass facades, and partially curved skylights in the rooftop landscape. The translucent glass half-tubes, up to 7 meters in length, are self-supporting, adhered to aluminum extrusions only at the top and bottom in a concealed manner. The outer surface of the gravity-bent glass has an etched finish, and the two panes of the laminated safety glass are joined with four translucent PVB interlayers.

Self-supporting glass tube facade with structural silicone bonding; various component tests and mock-ups

Structural Analysis and Testing

The glass half-tubes have a span of over 20 feet and must withstand wind loads of up to more than 140 psf. Since the glass was produced using a gravity bending method, it could not be thermally tempered, resulting in a relatively low tensile strength. This necessitated detailed structural analysis, including volumetric ANSYS models considering thermal loads. The glass was continuously tested during production to ensure the desired quality.