Outstanding Project Award Winners

New Buildings Under $30M

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion

Toledo, Ohio

Guy Nordenson & Associates

The Glass Pavilion is a freestanding addition to the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. The design called for a building with a single level above ground gallery, with independent rounded rectangles enclosed by full height glass walls and an inaccessible 30-inch wide cavity between each room’s perimeter partitions. The girders and joists of the steel roof framing are all continuous, which allows for the distribution of the total moment to both positive and negative bending throughout, with reduction in the critical design moments for both girders and joists. Special column construction adds to the architecture. Limiting the number of columns, combined with the use of plate construction, integrates the role of the structural engineer with that of the architect. While the structural systems are unorthodox, they aid in attainment of a building that is both highly efficient and affordable.