Papyrus Winter 2013 2014

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Cover Caption: Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo by Daniel Davies

Greetings from Los Angeles!

In this first issue of Papyrus since the 2013 IAMFA Conference, we have included articles recapping the 23rd Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., and a recap by Stacey Wittig of the Benchmarking and Learning Workshop, which was held on the day prior to the start of the conference. This year’s benchmarking exercise had 51 participants from across the globe, and in her article Stacey draws comparisons between cost of operations for cultural institutions, and those of other types of facilities participating in benchmarking exercises administered by Facility Issues Inc.

This year’s IAMFA Conference had record attendance, with more than 160 delegates and guests from Europe, the Americas, and Australasia enjoying 17 venues in and around Washington, D.C. This issue features a summary of the venues, sponsors, and educational components of the conference, along with recognition of those who received awards at our gala.

In this issue, we have a variety of interesting articles authored by IAMFA members. Patrick Dixon from the British Library contributed an article about the new LED lighting system in their conference center auditorium at St. Pancras, London. We have also posted a video of the lighting system in operation on the www.IAMFA.Org Members Only Page, so please have a look sometime—it is spectacular!

The 2013 Washington, D.C. Conference Organizing Committee did an amazing job, planning one of the best conferences we’ve ever had. You’ll find a collection of pictures from this year’s conference in the centerfold of this issue of Papyrus, and our website’s Members Only Page has a link for downloading any of these images. There is also a video of images from the conference on the website’s 2013 Conference Page to document the conference for future visitors. If you ever wish to refresh your memories of past conferences, there are similar videos going back several years.

Our Principal Sponsor for this year’s conference, Steensen Varming Ltd., celebrated its 80th anniversary a month before the IAMFA Conference. We’ve included a short piece with a few pictures from the celebration at the Opera House in Sydney, Australia.

You will find an article in this issue about energy loss in chilled-water systems, and how Belimo’s high-efficiency valves correct this. There is also an article about sustainability and proper roof design by Craig Isaacson from Derbigum, a new IAMFA corporate member. Finally, Todd Garing of Mueller Associates, an IAMFA corporate member and sponsor, contributed an article about the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.

With this year’s IAMFA Conference behind us, it’s now time to begin communicating plans for next year’s conference in Scotland. You will find a preview in this issue. The 2014 Conference will have 14 venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow, including the National Library of Scotland; the Burrell Collection; the Riverside Museum, where we will have cocktails aboard a sailing ship from 1896; and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, where we will enjoy a traditional Burns Supper. Please see the link on the website for more info about a Burns Supper　.　.　.　you won’t want to miss it—it sounds like an authentic piece of Scottish history.

There will be a Guest Program as usual next year, including a chance to board a Concorde at the National Museum of Flight, and a visit to Rosslyn Chapel, made famous in the movie The Da Vinci Code. We’ll visit the National Museum of Scotland, as well as the National Galleries of Scotland, and the National Portrait Gallery, with the closing Gala held at the Royal Botanic Garden. There will be an optional extra day with a visit to New Lanark, originally created in the 18th century as a cotton mill, and now a World Heritage Site. Please visit the IAMFA website for more details, and start making your travel plans soon.

IAMFA’s membership has grown significantly in 2013 to over 250, and its LinkedIn Group now has over 650 members from 48 countries. Thanks to all of our members who have helped spread the word about IAMFA, as well as those who have helped foster conversations in our LinkedIn Group. For Facebook users, try searching for IAMFA, and "Like" us, if you wish. We will be determining if Facebook is another way for members or guests to communicate, or to possibly reach candidates who may become IAMFA members in future.

IAMFA enjoyed a record year in 2013, and 2014 will no doubt be another. Finally, my sincere thanks to those who contributed content to this issue of Papyrus. Your contributions to Papyrus continue to make this a great resource for facilities managers everywhere.

Joe May

Editor

Greetings from Washington, D.C.!

My heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out to the entire 2013 Annual Conference Planning Committee, led by Tiffany Myers. What a wonderful conference we had in October, thanks to this team of 28!

Have you ever been on a team with 28 players? Well, if you have, you know it isn’t easy to keep that many folks organized and all working in the same direction! Tiffany Myers made the job look easy, and we were all treated to a fabulous conference. Every host location was perfectly prepared for our arrival, and put on a great show. Although we had six official host locations during the conference, many more sites were visited. I do not think they could have fit more activity or stops into the agenda each day.

The conference started with one of our most successful benchmarking workshops ever. Close to 50 members attended, and we spent the day learning about best practices in all of our museums and cultural institutions. Stacey Wittig and Keith McClanahan from Facilities Issues led us through this daylong workshop, and kept the content and ideas flowing. We were so busy that we didn’t even miss the coffee-less coffee break in the morning (well, maybe some of us did!).

The main conference program started on Monday with over 160 of our 250 members attending. This is an amazing number, and one of which we should be most proud. Our hosts at both the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Library of Congress treated us to outstanding educational programs, tours and receptions. We spent most of this day on Capitol Hill, then visited several of our Memorial sites that evening.

All of Tuesday was spent at our National Zoo, touring through their new Seal and Sea Lion, and Elephant exhibits. We even got to see mama panda resting and eating her bamboo breakfast, as we listened to the primary curator talk to us about how the month-old baby panda was doing. The educational programs that day were very informative, as we learned about everything from ideal environmental conditions for our collections, to turf management!

Our hosts on Wednesday were the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of American History. Our tours and educational programs were informative and captivating, and reminded us of our history and the significance of what we do to preserve that history. No one who attended the annual conference this year will ever forget the Gala at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Virginia. The trip out to this location was long, but so worth the travel! All of the conference activities were well planned and executed, and IAMFA’s membership will never forget the entire experience that was the 2013 Annual IAMFA Conference!

The Board has placed a conference evaluation survey up on the IAMFA website’s Members Only Page (http://newiamfa.org/members-only.php), and we hope each of you will take the time to complete the survey. Our next conference is in Scotland, and the results of this survey will assist the Scotland planning committee in organizing their conference. We always strive to improve each year, and we welcome your input and ideas.

IAMFA is much more than its annual conference, and the Board has been busy establishing plans for IAMFA’s two primary goals for 2014. We plan to develop two new working committees for increasing both membership and corporate sponsorship. I will talk more about these two goals in my next letter this spring.

We wished John Castle a very fond farewell from the Board during the Annual Conference, and thanked him for his years of service on the IAMFA Board, as well as for his leadership as Conference Chair for the 2012 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. We already miss his wit and charm during our Board meetings, as we have been through one so far without his presence. John, it is just not the same! Luckily, we were able to secure a new Board member to take John’s place at the Annual Meeting, and Brian Coleman has already begun taking over John’s leadership of our IAMFA Chapters. It isn’t an easy job, but Brian is up to the task!

We were able to close out our 2013 Annual Conference budget with a surplus in our savings account, mainly because of the sponsorship support we received for this conference. The planning committee person in charge of securing this level of sponsorship was John Bixler. He worked tirelessly all year long with all of our sponsors, and put together an amazing support package for this conference.

The IAMFA Board cannot thank our sponsors enough for their dedicated support of this conference and our programs. John secured 15 different companies as sponsors, and each of these companies played a role in the success of this conference. Our primary sponsor was again Steensen Varming, and they won our first-ever IAMFA Diplomat Award at the Gala, for their continued support of IAMFA.

I look forward to assisting our Scotland planning team—led by Jack Plumb this year—as they continue their work towards the next annual conference in September 2014. I can’t wait to see everyone again next fall. Maybe next year we can see all of our members in Scotland!

Nancy Bechtol

President

By Craig S. Isaacson

It is estimated that over 3 billion square feet of low-slope commercial and institutional roofing is installed in the United States every year.¹ If all of these roof installations were installed with a commitment to a sustainable application, enough energy would be saved to provide heating and cooling needs equal to the annual energy requirements of 380,000 American homes.²

With a growing commitment to the sustainability of our buildings, facility managers only have to look to the roof to make a positive impact. A white roof, or "cool roof", is an obvious way to achieve a degree of sustainability; but the roofing assembly provides other avenues to accomplish this goal with more impact.

Efforts to recognize environmental achievements involving the roof have, in the past, seemed somewhat futile for owners of existing structures. While construction projects frequently involve LEED ratings, it is more difficult to make retrofit projects conform to existing LEED standards, as the roof is a nominally small but expensive part of the overall construction project. To help alleviate this situation, the Washington, D.C.- based Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing (CEIR) has developed a program to recognize sustainability through improvements to the roofing assembly/system.

In 2012, CEIR advanced a new program, RoofPoint, with three main objectives at its core:

1. Promote the development and use of environmentally responsible, high-performance roof systems and technologies.
2. Provide a forum for the entire roofing industry.
3. Raise public awareness of the strategic value of our nation’s roofs.

Comprised of roofing manufacturers, roofing contractors, specifiers, and suppliers, CEIR recognized a need in the industry to promote roofing applications that were truly sustainable and achievable. A focused, strategic resource dealing strictly with roof areas was needed. That resource would need to evaluate and promote energy efficiency, new energy production, and a sustainable environment.

The driving force behind this initiative was a lack of effective tools to accomplish thorough sustainability for the roof. "Whole building" rating systems had three major deficiencies:

¹-Center For Environmental Innovation in Roofing ² Ibid.

1. Lack of New Construction Focus for the Roof Assembly: Current rating systems address less than 20% of the annual roofing market potential.
2. System Complexity Costs: Rating system was too costly to apply to smaller-scale roofing projects.
3. Lack of Emphasis on Primary Roofing Function: Roofs must still keep water out of the building for a very long time.

With implementation of the RoofPoint rating system, decision-making was improved. Good roofing practice was encouraged and made easier. The goals are relevant and consistently measureable. The objectives are designed to be covered in a single, comprehensive guideline. The durability of a roofing system is emphasized and roof maintenance, a common oversight, is encouraged and rewarded. As a result, the best roofing decisions are recognized and designed in to the roof specification.

To ensure the implementation, growth, and continuity of the RoofPoint program, the RoofPoint Foundation was created with the help of a $750,000 grant from the Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress. With oversight provided by the CEIR Board of Directors, the process was vetted in a two-step public review process. Validation of the program has just been completed via a one-year national pilot program, involving over 500 low-slope roofs in the United States.

RoofPoint works as a sustainability program through a multi-step process. The Environmental Category is composed of four elements. This section is designed to evaluate the following:

• Energy Management
• Resources (Material Management and Water Management)
• Life Cycle (Durability and Life Cycle Management)
• Innovation in Roofing

Credit is given for High "R-value" roof systems, best thermal practices, roof surface thermal contribution, roof air barriers, rooftop energy systems, and rooftop daylighting.

Photo page 5: Crystalline & Low Profile solar panels

Credit is given for recycled content, existing material reuse, waste management, the use of low-VOC materials, roof stormwater retention, and roof-related reduction of water use. The primary intention is to reduce the amount of solid waste, reduce ground-level ozone, and reduce stormwater run-off and related water pollution.

This element has nine areas of examination: durable roof insulations, roof drainage design, roof traffic protection, increased wind resistance, hygrothermal analysis, construction moisture management, durability enhancement, roof maintenance programs, and project installation quality. This area focuses on durability and maximizing the life cycle of the roofing installation. It aims to reduce issues that are "built into the roof" during installation, which eventually lead to the premature aging of the roof assembly.

This element recognizes design and product innovation, while also raising industry standards. The candidate roof is given extra credit for first-time innovation, and for exceeding state-of-the-art practices.

The RoofPoint Guideline, originally implemented in 2012, was developed in two rounds of public review from roofing industry leaders and professionals. It was then validated through a one-year process of actual applications from across the United States and Mexico. Prestigious museums that were a part of this vetting process are the Menil Collection, the Fine Arts Museum Houston, and the Rienzi Museum.

The scoring and credentialing of the certification process has now been expanded to include steep roofing applications as well as low-slope roofs. Most roofs with a slope in excess of 3"/12" fall into this category and may include slate, tile, and other energy-efficient roofing materials.

The Guideline has a simple organization with clear requirements. Each topical requirement has an index that describes the intent and the strategy to the user. The guidelines are designed to create innovation and flexibility. Free downloads are available at www.RoofPoint.org.

Accompanying the Guideline is the project application. This has been designed in a quick and easy format. Credits are automatically tallied for the final score. Hyperlinks to requirements are accessible for each credit. This feature became available in July of 2012. The scoring for each individual component is:

• Non-Compliant = 0 points per credit
• Meets Requirement = 1 points per credit
• Exceeds Requirement = 1.5 points per credit
• Meets Intent = 1 points per credit

To be recognized as a RoofPoint installation, the roof assembly must have a minimum score of 12.0 points. Additionally, at least one point must be earned in the Energy, Resources, and Life Cycle elements. Most roofs designed to the RoofPoint criteria average between 18 and 21 points.

RoofPoint is intended to evaluate both new and replacement roofs for commercial and institutional buildings, using current state-of-the-art as a baseline. RoofPoint allows for evaluation of a roof system’s environmental performance over the life cycle of the building. It provides a useful measure for what constitutes a sustainable roof in design, construction, operation, and decommission.

RoofPoint also gives the facility director a vehicle with which to implement sustainability objectives, life cycle enhancements, and quality roofing specifications worthy of the building’s architectural design and its priceless contents. Reduced energy costs and lowered maintenance expense are the most tangible benefits that a building owner can recognize. A maximized life cycle will take a few more years to realize, but it is highly anticipated.

Craig S. Isaacson, RRP has over 45 years in the roofing industry, and is Senior Vice-President of DERBIGUM Americas, Inc., a global roofing membrane manufacturer with plants in North America and Europe. Craig serves on the Board of Directors of the Roof Integrated Solar Energy (RISE), Certification Board of CEIR, and on the RoofPoint Development Committee. He has 13 projects recognized for sustainable attributes by RoofPoint, including 4 nationally awarded projects. He can be reached at [email protected].

By Jack Plumb

For Scotland—named one of the top three must-visit destinations in the world for 2014—it will certainly be a very busy year. We have a year of homecoming, with Scots from across the world returning to their roots with special events throughout the year; we have the Commonwealth Games in July; we have the Edinburgh International Festival in August; we have the Ryder Cup in September; we even have a referendum which will decide the political future of Scotland—oh, and I almost forgot, we also have the 24th IAMFA Conference in September.

Yes, you are all invited to come and join the party, and what a party it will be! The 24th Annual IAMFA Conference will be held in Scotland from September 14–17, with an optional day on Thursday, September 18—but more on that later.

The organising team has laid the groundwork for a very exciting programme, which will include an educational programme, visits to a number of iconic venues, as well as time for the more serious side of the conference—yes, socialising and sampling Scotland’s most famous export. So come and see Scotland—post-Enlightenment, but still living with, and preserving that amazing legacy. You will see what a modern Scotland has to offer, meet the new Scotland, and see for yourself how we embrace the past, but constantly reinvent ourselves to meet the new challenges that this ever-changing planet has to offer.

The theme for the 2014 IAMFA Conference　.　.　.　well, that is the fourth dimension—the fourth dimension being time. We have the past, but how do we reinvent that past to deliver a new cultural heritage for our children to embrace and take forward?

The programme has been carefully selected to tell this story, starting in Glasgow where we will learn about a heavily industrialised city—at one time, the most important industrial city in the British Empire—that fell into decline. We will see how it picked itself up and reinvented itself as a modern cultural tourist destination. Today, Glasgow is bursting with museums and galleries—some old, some new, but all offering a glimpse of Glasgow’s rich heritage in a truly inspirational way.

For the conference hotel, we have selected the APEX International and Apex City hotels, which are both four-star hotels located next to one another other in the Grassmarket, which is in the heart Edinburgh’s old town. The pre-booked rooms include a full Scottish breakfast. Joe May will be providing a link through the website for booking the hotel, and I would urge you all to use that link, as IAMFA does get a small fee for every booking made through the website. The hotel will take upgrades for "supreme" rooms, which have king-sized beds and a view of the castle; but this is on a first come, first served basis. As we expect demand to be high, we have also pre-booked additional rooms at the IBIS South Bridge Hotel, which also includes a full Scottish breakfast. Both hotels are very close to all the main Edinburgh venues, and you will soon find that Edinburgh is quite a small town, with all the Edinburgh venues within easy walking distance.

Benchmarking registration and the opening reception will both be held at the National Library of Scotland, just a five-minute walk from your hotel. Walking up Victoria Street will bring you to the front of the Library. Your first view will be of the seven Lorimer sculptures, and the main entrance.

One trick you will have to get used to in Edinburgh is the bridges. At first sight, you might think that the main entrance is on the ground floor; but you actually enter on the eleventh floor—yes, there are ten floors below you. The street that runs past both hotels is actually the ground floor of this building. Incidentally, just down the street on the righthand side you will see the Elephant House—the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote some of her first Harry Potter novel.

On Monday morning, coaches will leave from the Apex Hotel to travel to Glasgow. Our first stop will be the Burrell Museum, set in the very picturesque Pollock Park. This is a truly remarkable story: Sir William Burrell, a very wealthy Glasgow shipping merchant and philanthropist, donated his vast collection, along with £250,000, to the city to provide a space to exhibit his collection. Knowing a thing or two about his home town, and remembering that Glasgow at the time was a heavily industrialised and polluted city, he thought this was not the place to build a museum to exhibit precious and delicate works of art, so he set the condition that his museum had to be built within the city boundaries, but in a rural setting. Glasgow eventually bought Pollock Park, which allowed the construction of the Burrell Museum, completed in 1983.

Caption: The Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

Guests will have a guided tour of the Burrell before they head off to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for lunch, followed by guided tours if they wish. Delegates have a number of presentations, followed by their guided tour of the museum.

After lunch, delegates travel to the new Riverside Museum, opened in June 2011, which was recently voted the 2013 museum of the year. The 7800-square-metre museum was designed by Zaha Hadid, and symbolises the dynamic relationship between Glasgow and the shipbuilding, seafaring and industrial legacy of the River Clyde. Guests join the delegates later in the afternoon for a drinks reception aboard the tall ship Glennlee. The Glenlee is one of many hundreds of ships built in Glasgow’s shipyards. Originally launched in 1896, it is now one of only five Clyde-built sailing ships still afloat.

Caption: The Riverside Museum and the Glenlee, where members will have cocktail hour.

After the drinks reception, we depart for the Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery for a traditional Burns Supper. A tough day, but you will get the opportunity to sleep on the bus back to Edinburgh.

Caption: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the location for Monday’s traditional Burns Supper. See www.newiamfa.org for details.

Tuesday will be a quieter day than Monday, but no less inspirational. Our host today will be the National Museum of Scotland. Continuing our theme, we will hear about the redevelopment of the National Museum of Scotland, which involved taking a building that first opened in 1886 and reinventing it as the vibrant and accessible modern museum you see today.

Caption: The National Museum of Scotland.

Guests will have a guided tour around the Museum, then take a bus to East Fortune, just outside Edinburgh, to the National Museum of Flight. There they will get to climb into the Concorde and enjoy a guided tour around the museum.

Caption: The Concorde at the National Museum of Flight.

After lunch, guests take a short bus ride across to Rosslyn Chapel. For those of you who have seen The Da Vinci Code, it’s that Rosslyn Chapel. Guests will have time for a guided tour before the bus ride home. After lunch, delegates will have the AGM, followed by a guided tour around the museum.

Caption: Rosslyn Chapel, made famous by The Da Vinci Code.

On Wednesday, our host will be the National Galleries of Scotland, where we learn how to display a national collection in a sustainable way. Whist we start at the National Galleries on the Mound, we will also visit the recently refurbished Scottish Portrait Gallery to see how a National Collection is exhibited and preserved

Caption: The National Galleries of Scotland.

Today we will be sharing with our conservation colleagues, who have joined us for a joint session today, to hear about the recent refurbishment of the Portrait Gallery—not the refurbishment itself, but how that refurbishment was used to introduce broader environmental control parameters. These manage to preserve the collection, but in a more sustainable way. After lunch, delegates walk across to the Portrait Gallery for a guided tour.

Caption: The National Portrait Gallery.

Guests have a more relaxing day with a gentle stroll down the Royal Mile, ending up at Holyrood Palace.

Caption: Holyrood Palace.

We will have an early finish to the programme today, as it is back to the hotel to get changed for the Gala Dinner. The Gala Dinner will be held at the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh. At the Botanic, we will have guided tour through the gardens, eventually leading us to the new John Muir Gatehouse for the group photograph and Gala Dinner.

Caption: The Royal Botanic Garden, where the closing Gala Dinner will be held.

For those of us who have booked the additional day on Thursday, it’s onto the bus for a trip to New Lanark. New Lanark is a World Heritage Site created in the 18th century as a cotton mill, but made famous by mill manager and social pioneer, Robert Owen. We arrive just in time for a light lunch, followed by guided tours. Watch for the water-driven turbines that used to drive the mill, which are now utilised to generate electricity, making the site almost self-sufficient in electricity.

Caption: New Lanark, destination for the optional additional day of tours.

For those wishing to make this a slightly longer trip, I have added a couple of links to websites that provide a lot of information about Scotland in general, and holiday breaks in particular.

http://www.visitscotland.com/ http://www.lonelyplanet.com/scotland

By Todd Garing

Mount Vernon—George Washington’s beautiful estate overlooking the Potomac River just south of the nation’s capital—welcomes thousands of visitors each year to tour Washington’s mansion, farm, and gardens. Now, with the opening of the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, the estate is also a welcoming home for scholars of President Washington, the Founding Fathers, and Colonial America.

This elegant retreat is set on 15 serene, wooded acres, directly across the street from the estate. The 45,000-square-foot library consists of a three-level, light-filled building with offices, meeting rooms, and carefully designed spaces for special collections and rare volumes. Nearby, a new 7,300-square-foot residence features two apartments and six guest suites for visiting scholars.

Caption: The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington.

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which commissioned the design and construction of the Library, sought a suitable home for 19th- and 20th-century books and other objects commemorating Washington, as well as a portion of his own personal collection of books, manuscripts, documents, maps, and letters. The building features two rare-book rooms, as well as an oval-shaped vault that houses 103 volumes owned by George and Martha Washington. Maintaining appropriate temperature, humidity, and air quality for the building’s varied uses was a key objective for the design of the facility. The secure, climate-controlled vault is among 68 temperature zones within the building.

Mueller Associates provided the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering design for the project, working closely with the architectural firm of Ayers Saint Gross. The Baltimore-based design team had previously worked together on numerous museum and visitor-center projects requiring stringent environmental controls, and understood the critical challenges involved in protecting these valuable collections. Three air-handling units were incorporated into the building systems design, with one unit specifically dedicated to the special collections areas.

Additional collections are stored in a circulating collection area adjacent to the first-floor reading room and on the lower level, with the upper level housing offices. Daylight permeates the building, with two-story windows surrounding the reading room on three sides. The largest meeting room, which features a micro-tile digital display wall, also has windows on three sides. The MEP design maintains a comfortable environment for visitors ,with demand-based controls for temperature and humidity. A perimeter radiation system integrated into the architecture provides added comfort near the glass.

Caption: Daylight permeates the building, with two-story windows surrounding the reading room on three sides.

Building goals included a high level of energy efficiency and sustainability, and the library is designed to LEED^®-Gold certification standards. Chilled water is used for cooling and dehumidification, with a dedicated stand-alone chilled water plant. Energy-efficient systems include a dedicated heat-recovery chiller; an energy-recovery ventilator; a hot water heating system with condensing boilers located in the basement; high-efficiency toilets and urinals; low-flow, sensor-operated faucets; daylight harvesting; dimmable lighting; and occupancy sensors. All of the systems modulate efficiently to meet variable heating and cooling loads.

The sustainable strategies extend to the building’s relationship with the site. In addition to providing daylight, the abundant glass offers extended views of the surrounding landscape, designed by Michael Vergason Landscape Architects. The U-shaped building embraces a courtyard, and was designed to minimize disturbance to the site. In addition to an extensive tree-preservation effort, the building’s air-cooled chiller was positioned onsite, but well away from the building.

Incorporating the MEP equipment and piping into the building proved to be another key challenge. The building is designed to maximize ceiling heights, which limited the amount of space in which to route ductwork and piping. The two attic mechanical rooms feature tight slopes, which required careful planning in order to integrate large equipment. Mueller Associates and Ayers Saint Gross made optimal use of Revit^® 3-D modeling software to coordinate the design.

Caption: Interior of the Library

Meeting its lofty objectives for design, sustainability, and purpose, the Library is a striking addition to the Mount Vernon property. "It has been such an honor to be the lead architectural firm in designing this library for our first President," says Adam Gross, FAIA, principal of Ayers Saint Gross. "Our goal was to reflect George Washington’s ideals of character, order, balance, strength, precision, and elegance in the design of the buildings and grounds. With the help of our teammates from Mueller Associates, we were able to meet this goal."

With the completion of the library, George Washington’s own dream has been realized. "I have not houses to build, except one, which I must erect for the accommodation and security of my military, civil and private papers, which are voluminous and may be interesting," he wrote in a letter in the spring of 1797. Now, with his books and documents protected and preserved in this exceptional new facility, scholars can further their study of the country’s first President.

By Michael Cummings

Low Delta T Syndrome is a costly problem that can be quite difficult to pinpoint and eliminate. Low Delta T Syndrome is a scenario in which the water returned to the chiller plant is too cold. This indicates that the chilled water was not used to design efficiency within the building. These inefficiencies can be caused by a number of factors, including poor valve or coil selection, pervasive use of three-way valves and coil bypass lines, and system overflow. Assuming that the building has a solid and modern design—meaning we can rule out bypass and three-way valve causes—it is likely that Low Delta T Syndrome is being caused by excessive water flow in the system.

The critical objective here is using the energy effectively, in order to maintain the environmental conditions necessary for the protection of valuable exhibits while simultaneously minimizing energy consumption.

How does system overflow cause low delta T? The explanation here is quite simple; flow and delta T are inversely proportional. This means that, with load held constant, a 20% overflow will result in a 20% reduction in delta T. This can also be displayed by examining the power formula:
Q = 500 x GPM x delta T

What is the Energy impact of Low Delta T Syndrome? There are two prime energy benefits surrounding a resolution of Low Delta T Syndrome. First, pumping water is expensive: the energy required to pump 10% more water is not 10% more horsepower. The pump affinity laws tell us it will be significantly more than that:

H__P__1 = _G_P__M__13

HP2 GPM2

According to this formula, reducing flow by 10% will reduce pump horsepower by 33%.

The second benefit concerns the chiller plant. Efficient use of water at the point of consumption will reduce the demand on the central plant.

Low delta T occurring at the chiller plant is the result of low delta T performance at the air-handler units and other terminal coils. Low delta T in coils can be caused by a few factors, including poor valve or coil selection, coil overflow due to pressure fluctuations, and damaged or dirty coils.

Poor sizing and pressure issues can also lead directly to coil overflow and reduced delta T. Damaged or fouled coils reduce the output capacity of the device, causing the coil to product ∆Ts lower than the coil manufacturer’s design.

How do you know if this is a problem in your plant? Ask questions. If you don’t know it already, find out the average supply and return temperatures at the chiller plant, and compare these to design. Talk to the central plant staff; ask them about the delta T of the system. Talk to the facilities staff and see what, if any, programs are in place to maintain and clean the air handler and other terminal unit coils.

Degrading Chilled Water Plant Delta-T: Causes and Mitigation by Steven T. Taylor, P.E.

Solving Low Delta T Syndrome at MIT University A presentation from the 2012 I.D.E.A

Energy Impacts of Chilled Water Piping Configurations by Roy S. Hubbard of Johnson Controls

Product: Belimo Energy Valve

The Belimo Energy Valve is a fully pressure-independent valve that additionally allows the user to set a delta T threshold to eliminate low delta T at the coil. With the coils producing delta T at or above design, the entire system will benefit from high delta T. In addition to the control capabilities of the Belimo Energy Valve, the valve also has an onboard, BACnet-capable BTU meter. This allows for the collection of trend data that can be used to fine-tune the system, as well as to schedule predictive maintenance on air-handler coils.

Caption: The Belimo Energy Valve™

What are the immediate advantages of the Belimo Energy Valve? As soon as the valve is installed and a proper delta T setting selected, the delta T problems at that air handler are fixed. The change is immediate. And, since delta T is under control, there will no longer be any overflow in the coil, saving the high cost of over-pumping.

Caption: Typical air-handler installation for chilled-water coil.

What are the long-term benefits of the Belimo Energy Valve? Since the Belimo Energy Valve has the integrated BTU meter, you can receive a constant stream of performance data about the air handler. This data is critical for any continuous commissioning process, and is invaluable for a predictive maintenance program. But the true long-term benefit of a solution like the Belimo Energy Valve is the long-term energy saving that can be achieved by running your system at peak efficiency.

Michael Cummings is the Regional Applications Consultant—Government Market for Belimo Aircontrols USA Inc., located in the Washington, D.C. area. He has over 25 years of controls experience with companies focused on industrial and commercial control components/systems working to provide energy efficient solutions to customers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.energyvalve.com

By Mike Wildsmith

A new lighting system has recently been installed in the 255-seat Auditorium at the British Library’s Conference Centre at St Pancras, London. The Conference Centre is marketed for external events via the Library’s catering partners, Peyton & Byrne. Library colleagues can also book the Conference Centre, or one of its five additional meeting rooms, for internal meetings and events on Mondays and Fridays, plus weekends on a first come, first served basis. The Library’s own experienced audiovisual team is on hand to support presentation and lighting requirements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOhdFzizOs

• System and equipment obsolescence

• An opportunity to take advantage of developments in technology

• The need to remain competitive with other high-profile event venues

• A requirement to reduce energy consumption

• Original design dated back to late 1980s/early 1990s

• Equipment was obsolete and no longer supported by the original manufacturer

• System utilised analog rather than digital control

• Greater use of LED lighting (with associated benefits)

• Introduction of new Digital Multiplex (DMX) lighting control system

• Wireless DMX and WiFi remote control

• Remote setup facility for stage spotlights

• Greater use of colour: the new system makes use of red, green and blue LEDs, allowing users to "colour change" both the cove lighting and stage spots, within a seemingly endless palette of up to 16 million colours. This enables the colour to be calibrated to support branding for partners or clients. See photo below.

• Speed of setup

• Flexibility

Caption: New lights illuminated in the auditorium.

The benefits gained from the new lighting system include a significant reduction in energy consumption, with resulting cost savings, as well as increasing the Library’s appeal as an event venue.

Caption: Control Panel—before upgrade.

Caption: Control Panel—after upgrade.

Caption: Removed kits.

By Joe May

The 23rd IAMFA Conference in Washington, D.C. will be remembered in part for the extraordinary effort by the conference organizers to make this year’s conference a reality. On October 1, 2013, the U.S. federal government shut down, as the two main political parties could not agree on budget concerns. As a result, all of the federally funded museums closed their doors, leaving conference organizers uncertain as to whether they would open again prior to the scheduled start of the conference.

This meant that the organizers of this year’s conference had to plan backup locations for each day of the conference, in case we were not able to visit the original host venues. As it turned out, the government shutdown ended just a few days prior to the start of the conference—and what a wonderful conference it turned out to be. We owe the entire conference organizing team so much for their extra efforts in making this year’s conference an overwhelming success.

The 2013 IAMFA Conference organizing team was led by IAMFA’s President Nancy Bechtol, and included the following:

Samantha Bartz Kendra Gastright Tiffany Myers

Nancy Bechtol Neal Graham Donald Overfelt

John Bixler Cecily Grzywacz Angel Rodriguez

Kristy Brosius Donna Heard David Samec

Tony Cerveny Adrienne Jackson Helen Shade

David Conine Charon Johnson Kathy Simenton

Judie Cooper Daren Kennedy Mark Sprouse

Dan Davies Lisa Lahiff Lachelle Torney-Reid

Maurice Evans George Langford Cargie Vaughn

Alfonzo Garner, Jr.

I know how much time they all spent planning the countless details that went into making this a truly great conference.

It is also very important to recognize the sponsors who made this year’s conference possible:

Steensen Varming (2013 IAMFA Conference Principal Sponsor): Danish engineering firm founded by Niels Steensen & Jørgen Varming in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1933. The firm specializes in civil, structural and building services engineering, with offices in Denmark, Australia, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Ireland.

Allied Barton Security Services: Local Response, National Support—Security Officers are our focus!

Belimo: Not every valve is a problem-solver, but the Belimo Energy Valve is.

The Camfil Farr Group: "Truly Green" Clean Air Solutions. Proven to significantly reduce energy, labor and waste costs.

Erco: Tune the Light!

Limbach Inc.: Provider of sustainable building solutions focused on innovative and cost–effective HVAC management.

McGuire Engineers: Building Engineering Systems with effective, efficient, economic, and innovative solutions.

Millicare: By EBC. EBC helps you shine.

Mueller Associates: Inspired Design, Innovative Engineering.

NAPEEF: Your trusted O&M training partners for cultural facilities.

Quinn Evans: Wild expectations? No problem.

Schindler: Service. Elevated.

Siemens: Siemens optimizes comfort within buildings, ensures greater safety and improves security　.　.　.　and we do it with up to 40% less energy consumption.

Spacesavers: Artifacts already have a place in history. Our storage solutions make sure they will have one in the future.

Victor Stanley: Design for Community. Manufacturers of quality site furnishings since 1962.

Whiting Turner: Construction Management, General Contracting, Design-Build, Specialty Contracting.

Ziger/Snead: Baltimore architecture studio with a national reputation for design excellence.

These sponsors contributed to the intellectual content through presentations, and by generously contributing financially, enabling the spectacular venues, trips, and meals we all enjoyed during this year’s conference. We urge IAMFA members to keep this in mind when in need of products, services, and advice of the type offered by these conference sponsors.

Day One of the conference began, as in past years, with the Benchmarking Practices and Learning Workshop for IAMFA members participating in the annual benchmarking exercise. This valuable exercise allows member institutions to compare building operation costs and practices, in order to find better ways to accomplish work. Please see Stacey Wittig’s recap of the Benchmarking Practices and Learning Workshop in this issue of Papyrus.

Caption: Fifty-one IAMFA Member Institutions participated in the 2013 Benchmarking Exercise, and most attended the 2014 Benchmarking and Learning Workshop on the Sunday prior to the start of this year’s IAMFA Conference.

Members and guests not attending the benchmarking workshop were able to attend the optional pre-conference day of tours, including a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, lunch at the Chart House, and shopping in Alexandria, Virginia. At Arlington National Cemetery, everyone witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Caption: Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

The opening reception for this year’s IAMFA Conference was held at the Gaylord National Resort. It was a great evening, spent visiting with old friends most of us hadn’t seen since last year’s conference in Philadelphia and meeting new first-time conference attendees, while we enjoyed appetizers and cocktails.

Our home for this year’s conference was also the Gaylord National Resort. This spectacular resort hotel had a nineteen-story atrium and plenty of opportunities for conference attendees and guests to explore while at our home base.

Caption: Gaylord National Resort.

As in past years, the Washington, D.C. conference included separate programs for both delegates and their guests. During the five days of events, the two programs took place in parallel, while delegates and guests travelled to the 17 total venues included in this year’s conference. Both delegates and guests spent much of their time together at the same venues, while accomplishing their individual objectives: learning and networking for delegates, and exploration and discovery for guests. This year’s conference had record attendance of 165.

The venues for the 2013 conference were:

Annapolis Maryland Tour

Arlington National Cemetery

Calleva Farm

Folger Shakespeare Library

Gaylord National Resort

Glenstone Museum

James Madison Building—Library of Congress

Lincoln Memorial, White House, and M.L. King Jr. Memorial Tours

Mount Vernon

National Air and Space Museum—Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Campus

National Building Museum

National Museum of African Art

National Museum of American History

National Zoological Park

Thomas Jefferson Building—Library of Congress

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

During the delegate program, members heard the following presentations:

Madison Building Sixth-Floor Renovation Program—Denis Smalley and J.R. Wheeler

Climate-Responsive Building Envelopes—Chris Arkins and Emrah Baki Ulas

Shifts in Environmental-Parameters Requirements—Sarah Stauderman, Patty Silence and Dan Davies

Organic Grounds Management—Paul Tukey

How We Use Benchmarking Results to Improve Performance Year After Year—David Sanders, Oren Gray, Jack Plumb and Tony Young

Hypoxic Fire-Protection System—John Boyd, Rebecca Kokinda, Andy Heymann, Jim Call, Jamil Burnett and Jason Sawyer

During the conference, the IAMFA Board of Directors met twice—first to prepare for the IAMFA Annual General Meeting of its members, and a second time with Chairs of IAMFA’s Regional Chapters for breakfast and a discussion of new steps to support the regional chapters, and to ask for input from the Regional Chairs and participation in IAMFA’s strategic plan.

Caption: IAMFA Board of Directors with the Regional Chapter Chairs at the Chapter Breakfast.

The Annual General Meeting of IAMFA’s Members takes place each year during the IAMFA Conference. At this meeting, each Board Member addresses the membership with a discussion of:

Regional Chapter Activities

IAMFA Administration

Treasury

Papyrus Magazine

IAMFA Website

IAMFA LinkedIn Group

Strategic Plans

Election Results

Preview of next year’s IAMFA Conference

IAMFA President Nancy Bechtol presented a new five-year Strategic Plan for IAMFA. The Strategic Plan develop strategies for goals 1 and 2, and will seek the help of IAMFA members can be found on the Members Only Page of www.newiamfa.org. IAMFA is positioning itself to expand its partnerships and to reach new members across the globe. To that end, IAMFA has developed six goals for the next five years, in order to continue to strengthen and expand our organization. IAMFA is currently forming committees to further to participate on these committees.

The six goals:

1. Increase Membership

• Broaden and expand membership through actions of IAMFA’s Membership Committee using social media (i.e.: Linked In, Facebook) and direct targeted outreach to new cultural institutions, countries and regions not currently represented, or underrepresented, in IAMFA.
• Strengthen the Membership Committee within IAMFA by expanding its membership and setting annual goals to increase membership. Meet or exceed set targets for net increases.
• Develop a program aimed at retaining members.
• Develop and expand our awards program to include our sponsors, as well as our membership.
• Increase the effectiveness of IAMFA Regional Chapters, and the benefits of attending chapter meetings. Strengthen existing chapters and create new ones where beneficial.

1. Develop Sponsorships

• Develop a Corporate Sponsorship Program managed by IAMFA’s Sponsorship Committee to complement IAMFA’s annual conference sponsorship program.
• Tailor sponsorship offerings to optimize collaboration and partnerships between IAMFA’s members, conference sponsors and corporate sponsors. Increase access of corporate and conference sponsors to IAMFA members.
• Recognize IAMFA’s sponsors for their committed support of IAMFA.

1. Establish Financial Fitness
2. Achieve Educational Excellence
3. Increase Communication
4. Enhance Metrics and Technology

Two committees are being formed to address the first two goals, and work has already begun on both of these. We encourage all IAMFA members to volunteer to participate on one of these two committees. Randy Murphy will lead the Sponsorship Committee, and Brian Coleman and David Sanders will lead the Membership Committee.

Three board positions were up for election in 2013: Treasurer, Secretary, and VP Regional Affairs. Alan Dirican, David Sanders, and John Castle were re-elected to these positions. Following the election, John Castle resigned from the board, due to time constraints, and Brian Coleman was appointed to fill John’s term, ending in 2015. Many thanks go to John for his service to IAMFA over the past five years.

On Wednesday evening of the conference, delegates and guests traveled to the Gala by coach. Upon our arrival, the evening began with a group photo, followed by cocktails and canapés at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It was a stunning setting overlooking historical aircraft, including a new arrival: Space Shuttle Discovery.

Our group photo was actually taken in front of Discovery. The space shuttle made her maiden flight on August 30, 1984, and her final landing on March 9, 2011. She flew more missions than any other spacecraft, completing 39 missions in over 27 years of service. Over her lifetime, Discovery spent nearly an entire year in Space. Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, and played a key role in construction of the International Space Station.

Caption: Conference attendees at the closing gala at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Caption: IAMFA’s Board of Directors. Left to right: Brian Coleman, Alan Dirican, Joe May, Nancy Bechtol, Jack Plumb, David Sanders and Randy Murphy.

Attendees were also able to visit the tower at the Center, with panoramic views of the surrounding Dulles Airport area. The evening continued with a delicious dinner, accompanied by a variety of wines.

During the evening’s program, three IAMFA members were recognized with awards. The first of these was Corporate Member Steensen Varming, which was presented with the first-ever IAMFA Diplomat Award for its participation and support of IAMFA. Accepting the award were Emrah Baki Ulas and Chris Arkins from Steensen Varming. Steensen Varming has been a corporate member of IAMFA for five years now.

We are very fortunate to have Steensen Varming as a Corporate Member and Sponsor of IAMFA. We rely so much on the generosity of our sponsors, and we thought it appropriate to begin recognizing our sponsors with the new IAMFA Diplomat Award. We called this award "Diplomat", because we are proud to have them represent IAMFA as our corporate members. All of IAMFA’s members benefit from the expertise they share with us, and we also benefit from the services they provide when we are in need of their expertise.

We hope Steensen Varming will display this award in their office to demonstrate to their staff and clients how much we value them as a company, and also how much we value them as members of IAMFA.

Caption: Chris Arkins and Emrah Baki Ulas accept the inaugural IAMFA Diplomat Award on behalf of Steensen Varming Ltd. Left to right: John Castle, Emrah Baki Ulas, Chris Arkins and Nancy Bechtol.

The next award—the George Preston Memorial Award—was presented to Jim Moisson from Harvard Art Museums by Alan Dirican and John DeLucy. We met Jim at his first IAMFA Conference in 2003 in San Francisco. The following year, Jim stepped up and volunteered to host the 2004 Conference in Boston. He assembled a great team of members from a number of cultural facilities, including Harvard Art Museums, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, and the Boston Athenaeum. It was a great conference that I will never forget.

Jim went on to serve on IAMFA’s board as Treasurer until 2009, when he was faced with a multi-year major construction and renovation project at Harvard Art Museums—a project that still continues today. In the years he served on the IAMFA Board, Jim was an inspiration for the amount of time he devoted, and his dedication to IAMFA. We owe Jim a great deal for his steadfast dedication to IAMFA, and for the many years during which he served the organization so selflessly.
As Jim is still managing a $350 million Renzo Piano renovation and expansion project, he was not able to join us this year at the conference, but Dave Geldart accepted the award for Jim and delivered it promptly upon his return to Boston. Jim wrote the following upon receipt of the award:

Caption: Dave Geldart accepts the George Preston Memorial Award on behalf of Jim Moisson. Left to right: Alan Dirican, David Geldart and John DeLucy.

The final George Preston Memorial Award was presented to Randy Murphy from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, by David Sanders and Joe May. Randy has been a member of IAMFA since its very early years, and has served on IAMFA’s Board of Directors three times. He served as a conference host twice: in 1997, and again in 2006.

Since 2010, Randy has transformed the position of VP Administration on our Board. It is now one of the most time-consuming board position,s because Randy has been able to see what is needed to run the organization more effectively, and he just does it. As IAMFA’s second-in-command, Randy most recently drafted the Membership and Sponsorship plans; he serves as legal interface for IAMFA; he maintains the membership records; he runs the annual election; he communicates with IAMFA’s members; and he advised Joe May on design features as we began developing the new IAMFA website. We are so fortunate to have Randy Murphy serving on IAMFA’s Board.

Caption: Randy Murphy receives the final George Preston Memorial. Left to right: David Sanders, Randy Murphy and Joe May.

As dinner wound down, Jack Plumb—host of next year’s 24th IAMFA Conference—described preliminary plans for the Conference, which is scheduled for September 14–18, 2014 in Scotland, U.K. Please mark your calendars, and make sure you join us next year for another unforgettable IAMFA Conference.

Caption: Jack Plumb previews the 2014 IAMFA Conference in Scotland.

This brought an end to the closing gala, and the end of a wonderful 23rd Annual Conference. We saw many interesting sights at the conference venues, and enjoyed the opportunities to learn and network with our peers from so many other cultural institutions across the globe.

The conference hosts worked tirelessly, and made the 2013 IAMFA Conference one that we will never forget. Thank you so much to our Washington, D.C. IAMFA members and conference organizers. We invite IAMFA members attending the Washington, D.C. conference to visit the www.newiamfa.org Members Only Page to provide feedback on the conference via a conference survey.

Joe May serves on IAMFA’s Board, and is Editor of IAMFA’s Papyrus Magazine

By Stacey Wittig

At the 2013 IAMFA Benchmarking Practices and Learning Workshop held in Washington, D.C. last October, the fifty-one participants were asked, "What components of the meeting did you find most beneficial?"

Caption: Benchmarking participants at the workshop.

"Identifying best practices that others are using and using them in our facility," wrote David Cervantes, Head of Engineering at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Kendra Gastright, Director, Office of Facilities Management and Reliability of the Smithsonian Institution, said, "WOW—great job on the extended Hot Topics discussion. So many participated with very thoughtful sharing of challenges and ideas."

"Comparing our data to other benchmarking groups," said John Castle, Director of Facilities Services, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.

For the first time, Keith McClanahan—Principal of Facility Issues, the consultancy that facilitates the benchmarking exercise for IAMFA—presented charts that compared IAMFA median costs in key categories to other benchmarking groups. Besides the IAMFA group, Facility Issues oversees the Research Facility Benchmarking group consisting of Departments of Energy and Defense labs and R&D labs at places such Corning and Dupont, the Facility Managers Roundtable for those managing headquarters and manufacturing facilities, and the IFMA Utility Council benchmarking group, among others.

"Security costs of the IAMFA group are as high as security costs at nuclear labs," noted McClanahan. The comparisons of the groups that Facility Issues handles show that members of the cultural institution group certainly do not want to compare themselves to headquarters buildings that have much lower operating costs. The IAMFA group compares "apples to apples" when benchmarking key costs and practices of archives, libraries, museums and other cultural facilities.

When it comes to maintenance cost per GSF or GSM, the IAMFA benchmarking report—sponsored by McGuire Engineers—revealed that the cultural institution group is more similar to labs than office facilities. IAMFA’s janitorial costs were relatively consistent year to year, but were much higher than other groups. "No other facilities have thousands of people traipsing through them every day," said McClanahan. Utility costs reported by IAMFA were similar to the other groups.

"The report is important, but most important are the best practices that we uncover by comparing the data," added McClanahan. Breakout sessions—new this year—allowed participants to gather into small groups and discuss best practices in four key categories: utilities, maintenance, janitorial and security.

• Pam Lowings of the Royal British Columbia Museum led the Security breakout group in a stand-up, team-style meeting.
• John Castle arranged the Janitorial group in a "cross-legged" circle on the floor.
• George Langford, Manager of Facilities Operations at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum—a new benchmarking participant this year—led the Energy/Utilities breakout group.
• The Maintenance group was headed by Sean Dunn, Director of Facilities, Yale University Art Gallery—another first-year benchmarking participant.

Later, Dan Davies of the Smithsonian Institution gave a presentation entitled, "Water Conservation at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park," which was highly applauded by the audience.

Hot topics and emerging issues precipitated lively discussions after a lunch sponsored by the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. While discussing system shutdowns and setbacks in collections areas, George Langford asked, "What do you do with mixed media artifacts like guns with wood and metal?"

"In the U.K., we’ve been working at all these issues for some time," said Jack Plumb of the National Library of Scotland. "We share with conservators, look at seasonal drift, and are trying to expand the range of acceptable environmental settings."

Linda MacMillan, also of the National Library of Scotland added, "Something we’ve learned is that you really, really need to get to know your building." Later in a discussion around how to update historical buildings to modern standards, Isabelle Noraz, of Grand Palais des Champs Elysées agreed, saying, "You have to know the building very well and experience the reality of the building, then you can change the historical part of it."

"We have a program for seasonal drift," added Rich Reinert of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

"We program rolling outages," said David Samec, of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who voiced concern over the impact of shutdowns on equipment. "We’re looking at a softer way to do that so not to impact equipment."

Jeremy Linden, Image Permanence Institute of the Rochester Institute of Technology, said, "Over four years, there has been no problem with equipment, including fans and belts; it [shutdowns] may not be a problem. However, if you do run into equipment problems, let’s share that information."

John Castle admitted to some shutdowns, "Some that were actually planned," he smiled. "When I’ve suggested that we move an object to a place where it would be happier, you would think that I was growing another head out of my shoulder [by the way the conservators looked at me.]"

Todd Keeley of the Canadian Museum of History noted that his team builds in redundancy to the temperature and humidity sensors. "We have three or four sensors and average it out for the space."

For further details of Hot Topic discussions, go to the "Download Center" at https://facilityissues.com/cultural-institutions

You may enroll now for the 2014 IAMFA Benchmarking Exercise. Take advantage of a new program that allows you discounts for multi-year enrollment by going to https://facilityissues.com/cultural-institutions/enrollment-landing

Steensen Varming was founded by Niels Steensen and Jørgen Varming in Copenhagen in 1933, and worked in close cooperation with architects such as Arne Jacobsen and clients such as the Nobel Prize winner, Professor Niels Bohr.

Since then, the organisation has provided expertise in mechanical and electrical building services, lighting design and sustainability, seamlessly assimilating form and function, art and technology. Practices have also been established in Ireland (1946) and the United Kingdom (1957). Steensen Varming was first established in Australia by the Danish practice in 1973, following success in winning the commission to design the Sydney Opera House with Jørn Utzon.

Steensen Varming marked two significant milestones in 2013: just like the Sydney Opera House, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary in Australia, as well as the 80th year since its foundation in Denmark. Fitting in with the company’s strong links and shared history with the iconic venue, both anniversaries were marked by a black tie event at the Opera House in September at the Concert Hall Northern Foyers.

Caption: Guests mingle in the Northern Foyers at Sydney Opera House. Upon arrival, valued clients, inspirational architects and dedicated staff were greeted by music from cellist Georg Pedersen, who was solo cellist in the Royal Danish Philharmonic.

Caption: Guests were greeted by music from cellist Georg Pedersen. Speeches were given by Opera House CEO Louise Herron, followed by Søren Varming and Tobias Jacobsen—grandsons of company founder Jørgen Varming and architect Arne Jacobsen, respectively—and Steensen Varming CEO Dan Mackenzie.

Caption: Dan Mackenzie, CEO of Steensen Varming (centre).

Afterwards, guests could dance the night away to live music by The Freds, or relax on some wonderful examples of Danish vintage furniture provided by Vampt Vintage Design.

Through eight decades of technological change and increased environmental sensitivity, Steensen Varming has supported an exceptional cast of international architects and buildings, encompassing the private, corporate and public sectors—including museums, galleries, archives and World Heritage Sites. With new offices opening in Hong Kong and New York, Steensen Varming continues to build upon its strong heritage and philosophy, driven to enable the best building design where functionality and wellbeing are paramount.

Washington, D.C. -Baltimore Regional Chapter
By Maurice Evans

The Washington D.C.-Baltimore Chapter held its appreciation luncheon on November 25 to acknowledge the planning committee for all of its hard work and effort hosting the 2013 Annual IAMFA Conference in Washington. More than 20 members of the planning committee, along with Board Members, were in attendance. Nancy Bechtol (IAMFA President) and Alan Dirican (IAMFA Treasurer) were both on hand to represent the Board.

Caption: 2013 Conference organizers

By Ed Richard

On November 22, the Ottawa Chapter gathered at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). There were approximately 20 in attendance from the NGC, the Canadian History Museum (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization), the Canadian Museum of Nature, along with a guest from the National Arts Centre.

Caption: Attendees at the Ottawa Chapter meeting.

The main topics of the meeting revolved around ongoing construction and energy projects at the NGC, the largest of which is glass and roof replacement work in the Gallery’s Great Hall. IAMFA members may remember the space from the Ottawa conference kick-off breakfast that took place there in 2007.

Caption: The National Gallery of Canada.

The footprint of the Great Hall is approximately 9,000 square feet, but soars 120 feet in height, with close to 1,500 insulated glass units (IGUs) and 13 lead-coated copper roofs in the overhead skylight. The building opened 25 years ago, and it was time to replace the glazing and rebuild the roofs.

To add a little flair to the project, and to Ottawa’s skyline, the NGC incorporated the outer scrim of the scaffolding into its summer exhibition of contemporary Indigenous artists. Greenland artist Inuk Silis Høegh provided the graphics for printing the scrim, which resembled a large iceberg encompassing the Great Hall.

The construction contract was awarded to Carillion Construction through a tender process that accorded the majority of the scoring points to the submitter’s stated subcontractors for glazing, temporary works (scaffolding), and roofing, in addition to the general contractor.

The Ottawa Member Region heard from Mark Van Dalen, Vice-President of Patenaude-Trempe-Van Dalen, the building-envelope engineers overseeing the work. Mark discussed some of the challenges of the work in detail, which include incorporating a laminated blast film within the new IGUs, and the associated requirement of creating enough of a bonding surface to adhere the new units to the framing with a structural caulking bead. This bonding surface was achieved by way of aluminum extrusions adhered to the IGUs’ assembly and mechanically fastened to the window framing members.

Mark also explained the project’s rigorous water-testing procedures, whereby the primary outer seal (pressure plates and caps) are removed for all water testing. This helps to ensure that the secondary seals (watershed channels between the IGUs) are completely watertight, prior to signing off on the work. The group then toured the interior of the work site, which is fully scaffolded both inside and out.

Afterwards, we made our way to the main mechanical room at the NGC for a brief overview of some HVAC and energy conservation projects. We heard from Normand Bergeron of SMi Enerpro—mechanical engineering consultants that have worked on a number of projects at the NGC over the years. He briefly discussed the major energy retrofits done over a decade ago, which are still providing ongoing savings to the NGC. He also went into more detail on two more current projects: the installation of a centralized reverse-osmosis humidification system, and the ongoing installation of a back-up cooling system for the NGC’s Special Exhibition galleries.

This last project was initiated because the NGC is completely reliant upon a central provider of chilled water, and has had supply-interruption issues in the past. This initiative was originally intended to mitigate supply problems, but will now supplement the chilled water feed to the cooling loop for less cost than the chilled water supply. In the event of a supply interruption, the system can be quickly adjusted to provide cooling to specific areas of the building—mainly the Special Exhibition galleries, where the NGC would normally have its most important (and costly) works of art, often on loan from other institutions.

After a quick lunch, the group convened for a discussion of issues around personnel screening for both museum staff and contractors onsite. We also discussed aspects of facilities management policies: i.e., whether each institution had one, and what rules were in place related to the use of office space in the different museums. The meeting was adjourned with a request for a future regional meeting at the Diefenbunker in nearby Carp, Ontario, which was constructed during the Cold War era. No date has yet been set.

By Jennifer Fragomeni

It took three attempts at scheduling, but we were finally able to secure a date and time for our fourth quarter tour and meeting. The Northern California Chapter met at the construction site for the new University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center at Mission Bay on Friday, November 8. This huge new facility is billed as a Women's and Children’s Hospital, and is scheduled to open in January 2015.

We held a brief business meeting, during which we brainstormed about locations and topics of interest for next year's quarterly regional meetings, and reported back on this year’s IAMFA Conference. We were then given an overview presentation of the Medical Center campus, and a tour of the newly constructed Energy Center that will serve two hospitals and an outpatient building.

The 36,444-square-foot Energy Center consists of a chiller plant, a boiler plant, plumbing equipment rooms, electrical rooms, main server rooms and support spaces such as a control room, shops, and storage spaces. There were also special rooms for the equipment providing medical suction, de-ionized and R.O. water, medical gases etc. The Energy Center is a major contributing factor to the Medical Center's LEED Gold target.

Caption: Left to right: Our host Joe Rios, to whom we are thankful for the tour; Mr. Massey, our guide; and Tamara, Jennifer, Mark, Heather, Shani, Chuck, Lilly and Ari (Joe Brennan taking photo).

The design had a number of elements special to it being a life-support facility in earthquake country. The steel moment-frame construction incorporates all the latest seismic-resistive measures. There are three huge Cat diesel generators mounted on the roof, which can pick up the entire load for a few days. They have large cisterns of water to carry them through an emergency, plus a large sewage cistern so they can continue to discharge even if the municipal system fails. There are appropriate tanks to hold large quantities of oxygen and diesel fuel onsite, too. The boilers are natural-gas-fired with diesel back-up. There is also a heliport atop the inpatient wing.

We enjoyed seeing this state-of-the-art facility, which gave us all something to think about and take back to our institutions. In his orientation, our host Joe Rios, who has 30+ years with the UC Medical Center, explained their unique approach to the design. The existing hospitals' engineering staff had meaningful input and dialog, beginning five years before groundbreaking, and continuing now as they approach final handover.

Joe said that it has made a world of difference getting the input of the feet-on-the-ground engineers incorporated into this progressive design. After seeing so many things not work well, or fail, during his long career, it has been particularly rewarding to use his experience and that of others to alter the design and ensure smoother and more efficient operation of the UCSF Medical Center in future.

The ten attendees at this meeting were:

Jennifer Fragomeni, Exploratorium

Chuck Mignacco, Exploratorium

Jesse MacQuiddy, Exploratorium

Shani Krevsky, Exploratorium

Joe Brennan, formerly SFMOMA (retired)

Ari Harding, California Academy of Sciences

Heather Hickman Holland, San Francisco Art Institute

Mark Palmer, City of San Francisco, Municipal Green Building Task Force

Tamara Hayes, Museum at the Mint

Lillian Stamets, UCSF Gift Shops
U.K. Regional Chapter

By Jack Plumb

The latest in a long line of joint meetings between Estates/Facilities teams and their Conservation colleagues was held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Many thanks to Allan Tyrrell, who hosted the event, and David Redrup, who did all the organising. I should also mention, as a measure of the success of these meetings, that there were just over 40 attendees at this meeting.

The meeting kicked off with a welcome from Judith West, Director of Operations and Resources at the Portrait Gallery.

Caption: The National Portrait Gallery, London.

Dr. Nigel Blades, preventative Conservation Advisor (Environmental) at the National Trust, provided the first presentation on how the National Trust was implementing its energy policy throughout its estate. For those not familiar with the work of the National Trust in the U.K., it is an organisation established to promote the permanent preservation, for the benefit of the nation, of palaces and artefacts of natural beauty or historical significance. It is also worth noting the slightly different definition of conservation that the National Trust has, compared with what we normally recognise within an IAMFA gallery and museum environment.

Nigel went on to explain that National Trust stately homes tended to be mostly Grade I listed, all with unique interiors and collections. These buildings are generally large, very leaky, have single-glazed windows, are not insulated, and use oil-fired heating, but still need environmental control for collection conservation. Maintaining environmental conditions within the close tolerances of a conventional museum environment were thus just not practical, which led the National Trust to develop its energy policy. The energy policy is based on a three-step process:

First stage: Measure baseline consumption and performance (energy metering and surveys).

Second stage: Efficiency measures (insulation, upgrade old and inefficient installations, improved operating practices and maintenance).

Third stage: Renewables and low-carbon technologies.

The first stage was well recognised by IAMFA colleagues, as we all appreciate that what you don’t measure you cannot manage; however, Nigel took some time to explain how the National Trust implemented humidity control by varying the temperature. The environmental envelope they worked around was 50% and 65% RH, which was controlled by varying the space temperature between 5°C and 22°C. Whilst this worked very well for the time that the spaces were unoccupied, they were having to adjust these parameters for occupied hours, especially during public opening hours.

The next presentation was provided by Chris Tiernan, the U.K. Managing Director of Erco Lighting. Chris, whom all those who attended the recent conference in Washington will remember, gave a great presentation on the development of LED lighting within galleries, with particular reference to the Portrait Gallery. In the time allocated, Chris gave a very brief overview of that presentation, but did emphasise a couple of points.

These were, firstly, the ability of the LED light source to provide sufficient colour rendering for the works of art—particularly the reds in paintings. He noted that the advantages of using LED lighting for galleries were their improved efficiency, lack of colour drift during dimming, and vastly improved lamp life. Chris went on to explain that good modern suppliers can now provide this quality of LED luminaire, as demonstrated by the vast number of successful installations of LED luminaires within galleries around the world.

The other point that Chris made, as demonstrated by later tours around the Portrait Gallery, was that trials should be held to critically test performance, and those trials should be held in a significantly large area. This last point was crucial to achieving a comprehensive understanding of the performance of any lighting scheme—never mind a state-of-the-art LED lighting scheme.

The penultimate presentation was provided by Franky Scott of Autoflame. Franky explained that Autoflame provided engineered solutions which are proven and trusted for some of the most demanding and critical boiler applications. Their sophisticated burner-management systems, the result of many years of practical experience, maximise the efficiency of boiler plants, dramatically reducing fuel consumption, costs and harmful emissions. Many organisations rely on Autoflame to improve the effectiveness of their boilers. The results are impressive. Environmental objectives have been achieved through significant reductions in emissions. Lower fuel costs have also helped organisations adapt to rising fuel prices and changes in the economic environment.

The final presentation was provided by Edward Spell of Cofely GDF Suez. Edward’s presentation was on humidity: why we need it, ways to provide it, and some cost/carbon comparisons. Edward explained that humidification for archival environments is required to conserve collections and avoid expensive and complicated repair costs. Edward then went over the ways in which cabinets could be used to maintain humidity levels passively, with the use of silica gel and prosorb being popular materials.

Should passive humidification not be sufficient to meet humidification requirements, active humidification would be required. Various types of humidification equipment are available, from the standard electrode steam plant, resistive steam plant and gas-fired steam plant, to the various form of adiabatic humidification plant.

To calculate the amount of humidification required, Edward introduced us to the delights of the psychometric chart, and went through a couple of standard calculations to determine the required level of humidification. Edward concluded with a couple of graphs that showed a comparison of whole-life operating costs for the various types of humidifiers, which interestingly identified the portable adiabatic humidifier as the most cost-effective way of providing humidification within an archival environment.

Caption: Allan Tyrrell explaining the benefits of LED lighting within a gallery environment.

To round off the day, Allan Tyrrell hosted a number of tours around the Portrait Gallery to demonstrate just how well the new Erco LED spotlighting had improved the viewing experience of the collection, while also significantly reducing the running costs and carbon footprint of the Portrait Gallery. Behind-the-scenes tours were also given of conservation areas, where we saw at first hand the work of the conservators.

Caption: A ceiling view of LED lighting in action.

A special thanks to Allan and his colleagues at the Portrait Gallery for the tours and explanations.

Nancy Bechtol

Michael Cummings

Maurice Evans

Jennifer Fragomeni

Todd Garing

Craig S. Isaacson

Joe May

Jack Plumb

Ed Richard

Mike Wildsmith

Stacey Wittig