Renzo Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum

Project Specs:

Project Location: Fort Worth, Texas
General Contractor: The Beck Group
Architect and Design Team: Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Genoa, Italy) & Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc. (Houston, Texas)
Products Used: Rift White Oak in a variety of platforms and dimensions
Photography Credit: Studio Match

Probably the most intense and time-consuming project in our companies 35+ year history. Steve Welch once again brought creative solutions to the Architects that they loved. This ultra custom museum floor was created from 1-1/2″ thick engineered planks made in a balanced format from Rift Cut White Oak. A balanced platform has a solid wood top layer and solid wood bottom layer from the same species with an engineered plywood center for maximum stability. These specialty planks required built-in uniform gaps between the planks as they were installed over a deep air plenum. Some of the planks needed to be removable and we wanted to hide the mechanical fasteners so they were fabricated with hidden CNC cut install tabs. But wait, there’s more… In addition to the mind-blowing subfloor system and balanced engineered planks, the Architects decided they also wanted the ability to reconfigure the free-standing art display walls at will. Woodwrights team of construction professionals are always up for a challenge and this was definitely a head-scratcher. Long story short, we had around 900 steel brackets with threads bolt holes fabricated and powder coated. Then installed them in precise locations 2 feet below the surface of the gallery floor while simultaneously installing removable brass nuts in the surface of the floor directly above each bracket… Extreme indeed, but it was worth every hour spent to have the opportunity to create a highly flexible space that will endure the test of time.