Natural History Museum of Utah

SGH collaborated on the building enclosure design and helped the project team tackle the challenges associated with the severe local climate in terms of both high summer temperatures and low winter moisture levels. We recognized that low exterior moisture levels during cold weather exacerbate moisture migration from a humidified museum space through the building enclosure and air leakage from the exterior can cause undesirable fluctuations in interior humidity levels.

Enclosure components which cannot function in high humidity environments are subject to problems ranging from interior surface condensation to corrosion of structural components and degradation of building materials. SGH helped develop a high performance building enclosure system for the project with walls, roofs, windows, doors, curtain walls, and skylights designed to effectively control heat, air, and moisture migration from both the interior and exterior environments.

Our work included a design review of the construction documents. We provided recommendations to address the project challenges and also performed construction administration services that included water testing and whole-building infrared scans to verify the integrity of the finished enclosure.