INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART

nathan brandt + kendall clarke + cyndee moody + briana strickland

BACKGROUND
typology: museum
architect: diller scofidio + renfro (ds+r)
structural engineer: new york city office of arup
location: boston, massachusetts
completion date: 2006
area: 65,000 sf
THE ARCHITECTS
elizabeth diller, ricardo scofidio, and charles renfro
founded in 1979
integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts
perry dean rogers acted as associate architect
THE SITE
located on harbor walk, a 47-mile long public walkway
Pritzker family donated .75-acre site for civic use
largest private development on south boston waterfront
THE SITE
located on harbor walk, a 47-mile long public walkway
Pritzker family donated .75-acre site for civic use
largest private development on south boston waterfront

ICA
THE SITE
THE SITE
peak ground acceleration map - 2014
THE SITE
 DESIGN CONCEPT
harbor walk seen as civic surface
extends up to form public space and wraps around the theater
waterfront as asset and distraction

intimate gallery spaces

harbor walk
public space
 DESIGN CONCEPT

intimate gallery spaces

harbor walk
public space
DESIGN CONCEPT
ground level floor plan
lobby, bookstore, dining, food prep, loading zone, art lab
DESIGN CONCEPT
DESIGN CONCEPT
second level floor plan
theater, theater support, offices, classrooms
DESIGN CONCEPT
DESIGN CONCEPT
third level floor plan
theater, offices
DESIGN CONCEPT
DESIGN CONCEPT
fourth level floor plan
galleries
DESIGN CONCEPT
STRUCTURE structural system
steel as structural system
easy to transport and assemble; cantilever
STRUCTURE
inverted triangular
roof trusses
steel w section
megatrusses

gallery floor trusses;

w-tee chords, double
angle webs
steel w section beams
and columns with
lateral bracing
foundation slab

piles, pile caps, and

beam grillage
STRUCTURE revit analysis
roof area load = 50 psf
gallery floor area load = 100 psf
member forces and moments
STRUCTURE foundation framing
W14X233
W12X40 W12X40 W12X40 W12X65 W14X109

Top of footings and grade beams

Braced frame
at -2 ft on grid A8, typical

W12X45
W12X45
Top of footing -2 ft

W12X50 W12X50 W12X50

Floor
Top of drains Top of
slab -2 in. slab +0 ft
0 in.

Top of Top of
footing -5 ft Top of trench -1 ft W14X193
W12X40 W12X40 W12X65 W12X65
footing -5 ft 4 in. W12X40 W12X65

Braced frame
To p of
footing
Braced frame

-5 ft 8 in.
Top of
grade
beam
4 ft 4 in. W12X58
W12X40 W12X40 W12X40 W14X193
Top of W14X550
W12X53
grade
beam Top of To p of
4 ftft 44 in.
-4 in. slab -3 ft footing

Braced frame
Top of
-5
5 ftft88in.
in.
slab +0 ft
0 in. W12X58
W12X40 W12X65
W12X65 W12X65 W12X40
Top
To pofof
footing
footing Grade W12X53 W12X40
W12X53 Braced frame
5 ft
5 ft 8 in. beam 2 W12X53

Top
To pofof Light
footing Floor
footing fixtures
Top of Top of slab boxes
5 ft8 in.
5-5ft
Top of grade -1
1 ftft 66 in.
in.
grade beam
beam ½ in.
-½ in. Top
To pofof
2 in.
+2 in. Top of footing
footing
grade 5-5ft
5 ft8 in.
beam
-8½ in. W12X58
W12X40
W14X398 Top of
footing
Top of Top of -11 ft 3¹/ 8 in.
grade grade
beam 2 ft beam
3½ in. Top of W14X311
W14X193
Top of Top of footing
footing footing 1 ft 3¹/- -2 ft
8 in. Top of
Top of 1 ft 3¹/ -2 ft
8 in. 1 ft 3¹/-- -2 ft
8 in. grade beam Top of
footing -22 ft footings and
Top of
1 ft 3¹/ -2 ft
8 in. footing grade beams
-2 ft atat-22 ft on grid 1,
typical
STRUCTURE foundation system
steel H-Piles
H 14 x 117
100 feet long
cathodic protection
concrete pile caps and grillage
STRUCTURE soil type
udorthents - urban land soil
2-20 feet of artificial fill
loamy soil
~10% clay
~40% silt
~50% sand
STRUCTURE soil type
steel h-piles on bedrock for higher bearing capacity
water table at 3-5 feet + frost condition
stability concern for design

water table
artificial fill

clayey sand
vertical bearing capacity: 2,000 psf
lateral bearing pressure: 150 psf

bedrock
vertical bearing capacity: 12,000 psf
lateral bearing pressure: 1,200 psf
STRUCTURE soil pressure

highly stressed area

single pile

group
STRUCTURE wind load design
140 mph
horiztontal load: 31.1 psf windward corner of building
vertical load: -37.3 psf windward corner of roof
STRUCTURE seismic load design
Zone 2A: 0.15
Occupancy factor: 1.0
Structure Response (Rw): 12 (moment resisting frame)
STRUCTURE multiframe analysis
exterior bay
tributary area: 3,380 square feet
roof live load: 20 psf + roof snow load: 30 psf
floor live load: 100 psf
wLL:169 k/ft wLL: 338 k/ft

axial loads shear

moment deflection
 STRUCTURE multiframe analysis
interior bay
tributary area: 3,380 square feet
roof live load: 20 psf + roof snow load: 30 psf
floor live load: 100 psf
wLL: 295.75 k/ft wLL: 581k/ft

axial loads shear

moment deflection
STRUCTURE multiframe analysis
south facade
wind load: 31.1 psf
east facade tributary area: 3,420 square feet

106.3 k

axial loads shear

moment deflection
STRUCTURE load transfer
lateral force on eastern side would transfer load to exterior
megatruss
STRUCTURE load transfer
floor load transfer

roof load transfer

REFERENCES
Boston Parks and Recreation Department. Appendix 1 Environmental Inventory and Analysis. Soils. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from
http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/pdfs/os7a_text.pdf.

Boston Parks and Recreation Department. City of Boston General Soils. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/pdfs/soil.pdf.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (2001). Structural Loads. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/massachusetts/hazards.php.

Diller, Scofidio, and Renfro. n.d. Institute of Contemporary Art. Retrieved from http://www.dsrny.com/#/projects/ica.

United States Department of Agriculture. (1989). Soil Survey of Norfolk and Suffolk Counties, Massachusetts. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/massachusetts/MA616/0/norfolk.pdf.

n.d. Google Images. http://www.google.com/imghp?gws_rd=ssl.

[Graph illustration] Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5TfYu3ie_8s/ULZX6h0OPQI/AAAAAAAABho/LlJyfE2kMxE/s1600/10.gif.

ICA Istitute of contemporary art, Diller Scofidio Renfro. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-mMzV9qPYs.

International Building Code. (2009). Soils and Foundations. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/massachusetts/hazards.php.

Nichols, Anne. (2014). Applied Architectural Structures Course Note Set.

Phipps, Donald. (1962). The Geology of the Unconsolidated Sediments of Boston Harbor. Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Schodek, D., & Bechthold, M. (n.d.). Structures (Seventh ed., p. 161). Pearson.

Schulte, M. and Tavolaro, M. (March 2008). Reaching Out. Civil Engineering, 78, 3, p. 44-51.

Soil Mechanics Network Classroom. Element Stress Analysis. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/massachusetts/hazards.php.

Tavolaro, M. (2008, March 1). Reaching Out. Civil Engineering, 44-51.

U.S. Geological Survey. (2014). 2014 Seismic Hazard Map. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/massachusetts/hazards.php.