Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque Itnl, Balloon Museum

摘要

This 61,000-sq.-ft. multifunction museum building is dedicated to the history, science and art of ballooning. The Balloon Museum architecture is designed to suggest an inflating balloon at the entry with a tensile fabric roof and an inflated balloon at the main gallery. The building houses a total exhibition space of 25,000 sq. ft. Structural complexities included swinging 16-ton trusses into place and installing the Birdair roof, vaulted great hall, and observation decks. The 80-ft. high, semi-cylindrical interior is supported by wires and struts reminiscent of an airplane hanger, and the metalwork imitates the support structure of a hot-air balloon. The back wall - the "top" of the horizontal balloon - is entirely enclosed by glass, almost 80-ft. high at its peak. Massive support pillars are tied together at the top by 70-ft. long structural steel trusses that weigh as much as 16 tons.