Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Ga.

May 5, 2006

   So, when museum officials announced plans to build a new home for its permanent collection and for presenting important traveling exhibitions – and a building to reflect 21st-century architectural values – it’s small wonder that historic preservationists were on their guard.
   After an 18-month review process – and thanks to the skilled work of design architect Moshe Safdie – the new Jepson Center for the Arts, which opened in March, is proving hugely popular with both visitors and the local community. One of the reasons for its success, everyone agrees, is Safdie’s canny use of natural stone both inside and out.
   It’s a rare museum that wouldn’t like more space, but Telfair’s needs may have been more critical than most. Dr. Diane Lesko, Telfair’s executive director, explains that the museum first opened in 1886 in a mansion originally built in 1819. Although the organization later built an annex, known as the Academy,
   “As you can imagine, storage had become a big problem,” she says, “and so was freight-elevator access. We also needed space for education facilities and more galleries.”
   Adding to the existing facility wasn’t possible. James Oglethorpe, the city’s founder, had laid out the original city around a series of central squares, and streets border the Telfair property.
   However, as the need for more space became critical, the museum’s board was able to acquire four lots around the corner from the Academy, two of them facing on Telfair Square and the others behind it, across an historic lane.
   When the museum’s board committed to the project in 1998 and ultimately budgeted $25 million for the job, members knew they faced several challenges. They began by hiring locally based Hansen Architects, P.C., to serve as the architect of record.
   “We knew a local architect would play a critical role if we chose an international architect to do the design,” says Lesko. “We looked at several Savannah architects and had them do presentations, then voted on them. We wanted the architect of record to have the opportunity to be involved with the choice of the international architect.”
   The desire to hire an architect from outside Savannah – a city known for its architects – to create the design was based on the way the board envisioned the project, Lesko explains.
   “The board wanted a building for the 21st century that would be as important to Savannah as its 19th-century buildings,” Lesko says.
   From a list of approximately 25 architects, the building committee narrowed the field and invited seven to do presentations on their firms and philosophies.
   Ultimately, the committee selected Moshe Safdie and Associates of Somerville, Mass. Safdie’s museum designs include the Jerusalem Holocaust History Museum, which opened last year.
   Isaac Franco, a principal with the Safdie firm, says that an impetus behind seeking this job was a strong desire to work in Savannah.
   “This is an important institution, so that was of interest to us,” Franco says. “The most-important aspect was the challenge because of the location. Savannah is an historic town with an amazing plan and conservation efforts for the historic district, and that interested us.”
   Museum officials also knew what they were looking for in terms of the appearance of the new building; Lesko says the key word was, “inclusive.” With two lots facing the square, they wanted people outside to be able to see into the museum, and those inside to see the square and the live oaks hitting the façade.
   “Safdie really exceeded our expectations,” she says. “Inside there’s a wonderful feeling of openness and airiness, and wherever possible there are wonderful slices of windows where you can see out into different areas of Savannah. It’s wonderful.”
   Franco speaks less grandly of the design, noting the client wanted a building that was going to be able to meet the needs of large exhibits and allow it to add to educational programs in a contemporary way within 64,000 ft².
   To meet those diverse needs, the structure is really two separate buildings joined by a bridge at the third-floor gallery level. The grand entrance with its sweeping staircase, the museum store, boardroom and other facilities are all in the front building; the rear space is devoted to education and the family galleries.
   However, what Lesko and museum officials saw as its greatest appeal – a three-story glass façade facing Telfair Square – initially proved far less popular with members of the community’s Preservation and Historic Review Board.
   Hansen’s John Hughes, who served as that firm’s project manager and worked closely with Safdie on preservation issues, says because of Savannah’s historic-landmark designation, there tends to be a very conservative approach to development in the community.
   “Any time you present a very contemporary building, you’re going to have somewhat of an uphill climb, not because a contemporary building doesn’t have a place in an historical setting, but you’re fighting the ideology of an historic city,” Hughes says. “We had to convince the city that this building was appropriate for Savannah.”
   The historic review board was particularly concerned that the glass façade – as originally proposed – broke the rhythm of the buildings along the streetscape. To resolve the issue, Safdie opted to add six large concrete columns that break up the appearance of the glass wall and hold the street line.
   Although groundbreaking occurred in 2001 and the contractor, Savannah-based Rives E. Worrell Co. Inc., was able to do initial site work, gaining the approval of the review board took a year-and-a-half.
   “It was a very slow process,” says Worrell’s president, Walter Murphy III, who explains that his company was chosen as the general contractor based mainly on its award-winning renovation of Savannah’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
   “We started with a foundation package and then the drawings were slow to catch up,” he says. “Museums are notoriously slow anyway, and when you get a project as large and as complicated as this, we were constantly behind the curve.”
   One of the areas slow to finalize involved the selection of a natural stone.
   “We wanted to see an integration between the inside and the outside of the building, given its transparency,” says Safdie’s Franco. “The main walls of the building run from the outside directly into the inside through a series of glass walls, so it was important that the same stone be used on the interior and exterior. It also had to be hard enough to use on the floors.”
   Hansen’s Hughes says the stone – what Franco calls, “light-colored” and the fabricator named Golden Beach — was also important.
   “Safdie’s design philosophy is to use geometric forms and make them work within the urban fabric of the town,” says Hughes. “Not only does the stone exemplify the mass of the building, but it works within the color gradient of the city.”
   Safdie’s initial preference was for a French limestone. However, when the masonry subcontractor hired for the job –Savannah-based Dan J. Sheehan Co. (Murphy explains that his company and Sheehan have been working together for three generations) – began to put numbers together, it became apparent the French product was too expensive given the project’s tight budget.
   “We knew what we had to buy the material for to make everything work,” says Dan Sheehan Jr. “We tried to get the French to sell the blocks to the Italians to fabricate, and they wouldn’t do that, so we did what we’ve done with other projects: We turned to Trade International.”
   Jeff Matthews, owner of the Atlanta-based stone-consulting company, says finding the right stone for the job was a complicated matter that involved looking at stones from a variety of sources from Bulgaria to the United States.
   “They had a very tight budget, so they told me what they were looking for and the type and color and texture,” Matthews says. “I try to understand what the client wants and what he’s looking for.”
   Safdie was in Lucca, Italy, visiting the facilities of Henraux S.p.A., the firm chosen to fabricate the project, to look at various other stones selected for him. While there, he saw and chose a Portuguese limestone that was also in the yard.
   “He said, ‘This is what I want. Is it in budget?’” Matthews explains. “We pursued it, and the answer was, ‘Yes.’ Then, it became a question of getting the right blocks to Italy and getting them fabricated.”
   However, Matthews stresses that the selection of the stone wasn’t based strictly on budget and appearance. The stone also went through testing because of concerns over its suitability as flooring and its ability to stand up in Savannah’s seacoast climate.
   Stone selection isn’t the only area where Sheehan sought expert advice. Although the architects had proposed a method for attaching the stone veneer to the structure, the masonry sub had concerns about it – again because of the cost.
   For that part of the process, the company brought in Michael Lewis of Façade Forensics in Cincinnati, who says the complicated geometry of the walls might have caused havoc with more-conventional setting methods.
   “I offered them an alternative concept that used vertical struts, custom brackets and individual anchors which gave them a lot more versatility and adjustability and improved the accuracy of the installation,” says Lewis. “It also made it faster to put together, even though they had additional expenses from framing.”
   The complex geometry of the project – a mix of convex, concave and conical spaces – also meant correct fabrication of the pieces was critical. Sheehan hired Henraux to do the shop drawings and shop tickets the project required, as well as the fabrication.
   “For the most part they did a good job on the fabrication of the material,” says Dan Sheehan’s son, Leo Sheehan. “There were a few issues, but I don’t think on a job this size you’re going to be without issues. For instance, about 10 of the 4’ pieces on the grand staircase were broken, but we worked them out.”
   Not surprisingly, Leo Sheehan compares the actual installation of the stone to assembling a large puzzle that included 22,000 ft² of 16” X 24” pieces ranging from 3cm- to 5cm-thick for the walls, and another 11,000 ft² of 12” X 24” tiles in a 3cm thickness for the floors. The grand staircase tiles, included with the floor, are all 5 cm.
   “We did different things for the walls and floor,” says Hansen’s Hughes. “The walls are strata-cut, then sandblasted, so you get one effect for the vertical surfaces. The floors are fleuri-cut from the same stone, then honed, so you get a soft stipple effect.”
   Leo Sheehan explains that the only difference between the installation of the interior and the exterior walls is that the exterior panels are hung on a stainless-steel unistrut structure, while the interior utilizes galvanized steel.
   The floors are all set in a mortar bed with a cleavage membrane and reinforcing wire topped by a thinset application.
   And, both Sheehans stress that a 4-mil polyurethane sheet separates the floors and the walls to prevent them from bonding.
   “If they were bonded and we got any movement in the structure, it would likely transfer through the setting bed and possibly crack the floor,” says Dan Sheehan. “With them moving separately, there’s less chance for cracking.”
   Because of the structural work involved with the stone, as well as the fact that Dan J. Sheehan Co., also had the contracts for the stucco work and interior plastering on the building, Leo Sheehan says the firm had as many as 30 people working at the jobsite.
   Despite such a massive effort by Sheehan and the other contractors involved on the job, the project did not meet its originally scheduled completion date of April 2005, or a subsequent October 2005 deadline.
   “Even as it was, with the March (2006) opening, there was a real push at the end to finish the details,” says the museum’s Lesko. “Doors wouldn’t be delivered on time, and the retractable doors for the store were the wrong size. It was one thing after another.”
   “When you get to a project of this size, there are always a lot of variables, and this was a complicated job,” says Worrell’s Murphy. “Not only were there the aesthetics of the project, but you have to deal with things like special air-conditioning and humidity controls, the lighting, and dark-out shades. It was truly a learning experience for us.”
   Still, the general contractor adds, “I think that, now that it’s 99.9-percent finished, everyone is absolutely thrilled with the building. People in this town can’t believe that there’s something like this in Savannah. The comments I’ve gotten have just been incredible.”
   From the client’s standpoint, Lesko says the Jepson Center is more than museum officials ever dreamed it would be, and more wonderful than the two-dimensional designs ever suggested.
   “It’s an incredibly beautiful building – a piece of sculpture really,” she says. “Everyone has just raved about how open and transparent and welcoming it is, while still having these wonderful galleries with curving walls and swooping ceilings.”
   The Sheehans – now the second and third generations of their family in the business – say it’s definitely a building they’ll be proud to point out to future generations. And, says International Trade’s Matthews, the stone really contributes to the building’s success.
   “Not only is the design unique to the United States, but it compliments the historic Savannah when you see it among those old buildings,” he says. “It’s nice to mix the old and the new, not only the old Savannah architecture with new architecture, but using old things such as the stone make it an historic place.”

Client: Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Ga.
Design Architect: Moshe Safdie and Associates, Somerville, Mass.
Architect of Record: Hansen Architects P.C., Savannah, Ga.
General Contractor: Rives E. Worrell Co. Inc., Savannah, Ga.
Masonry Contractor: Dan J. Sheehan Co., Savannah, Ga.
Cladding Consultant: Façade Forensics, Cincinnati
Stone Consultant: Trade International, Atlanta
Stone Fabricator: Henraux S.p.A., Lucca, Italy