National Archives Building
Washington, D.C.
In addition to the prestigious assignment by the National Archives and Records Administration to design the Charters of Freedom encasements, Heery provided construction management services for the $110 million renovation of the National Archives Building in downtown Washington, D.C.
In addition to renovations of the main Rotunda and development of new encasements for the Charters of Freedom, the renovations called for greatly expanded exhibit space, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant accessibility that would relocate the building entry to street level, a 288-seat (plus handicapped seating) auditorium and additional office space for archivists and other staff. Included in the project were expanded thoroughfares for group tours and facilities for genealogy research, a cafeteria and book store with National Archives related publications.
One of the primary goals of the renovation was to quintuple gallery and exhibit space within the National Archives. Rather than enlarging the building footprint to achieve this, renovation plans called for a reconfiguration of the interior to take advantage of existing space in a more user-friendly fashion. Three floors would be removed from the first six stories, diminishing the building’s square footage from 1.4 million SF to 900,000 SF and expanding headspace in the exhibit galleries as desired. These three main renovated floors also provided additional research, conference and visitor services.
The building’s antiquated mechanical, electrical plumbing and security systems were also overdue for modernization. Each of these systems was subjected to extensive upgrades to be in compliance with modern codes, while also being installed to adhere with rigorous historic preservation guidelines. Plans to install a new cooling tower entailed making space in an upper corner of the building so the work could be concealed behind the building facade. Marble from the original quarries used in the 1930s building construction was located and sourced for use throughout the reinvigorated Archives building.
This project won a Best of 2004 Award for Project of the Year - Renovation from Mid-Atlantic Construction in January 2005.