InfrastructureNew Florida museum is glass-covered hurricane-proof fortress
The new Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg is designed to withstand category 5 hurricanes; the roof is 12-inch thick solid concrete; the walls are even thicker, at eighteen inches; the glass, which makes up big sections of the outside of the museum, can hold up to a category 3 hurricane; if that glass breaks, letting rain, wind, and debris into the facility, the art will still be safe: storm doors will shield the galleries on the third floor, and the vault, which is on the second floor (all of the art is placed on the second and third floors, above the 30-foot storm surge of a category 5 storm)
Artist's renedering of the museum // Source: tbo.com
The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg will soon have a new home which is part tourist attraction and part Fort Knox. Glass covers a lot of the new building, but it is hurricane proof. How does that work?
Salvador Dali’s art is celebrated for its surrealism, but the threat of its destruction by a hurricane is as real as it gets. “The building is a fortress,” architect Yann Weymouth proudly declared, holding his hard hat under his arm as construction workers hammered and drilled in the next room.
Weymouth’s team from the firm HOK started with the unusual step of putting all of the art up high, on the second and third floors, above the nearly 30-foot storm surge of a category 5 hurricane.
“That means 165 mile an hour winds — the potential of yachts from the basin smashing into the building,” Weymouth said.
Tampa Bay’s WTSP.com reports that the structure is designed to withstand the winds of a category 5 storm. The roof is 12-inch thick solid concrete. The walls are even thicker, at eighteen inches.
Even the glass, which makes up big sections of the outside of the museum, can hold up to a category 3 hurricane. If that glass breaks, letting rain, wind, and debris into the facility, the art will still be safe, Weymouth said. Storm doors will shield the galleries on the third floor, and the vault, which is on the second floor.
Even the data and security systems are protected against a category 5 hurricane.
Why so many major steps? Weymouth says it is because even “priceless” is not a strong enough word to describe the art that will be housed here. The estimated value of the collection “doesn’t matter,” the architect said. “You cannot replace any of the paintings because Salvador Dali did them, years ago, and he is not here anymore.”
The winding, bending building under construction next to the Mahaffey Theater will house the largest collection of Dali art outside of his native Spain. The museum considered renovating its current facility — a converted warehouse that is been home to the art since 1982 — but the decision was made to build something brand new.
The number one reason the museum went with the plan to build a stunning new building is to protect the works of art from washing away.
The new Dali Museum is set to open its well-protected doors on 11 January 2011.
