Washington, DC, welcomes the George Washington University’s new 46,000-square-foot museum, which is a unique collaboration between the university and the 90-year-old Textile Museum. Containing its 19,000-piece collection, it is located between the historic Corcoran Hall and Woodhull House.
AECOM Tishman served as construction manager for this renovation project.
Logistical Challenges:
Located on an incredibly small urban footprint, which presented several staging and logistical challenges, we performed several excavation techniques such as:
- Solider piles
- Lagging and tie-backs
- 25-foot-deep hand-dug underpinning
- Secant wall along the adjacent shallow foundations
Completion in Phases:
Phase One: Preconstruction work was done inside Corcoran and Bell Halls to relocate laboratories and research facilities.
Phase Two: We were able to begin work on Corcoran Hall, which consisted of building a new mechanical tower, razing the existing tower, and building the new stair power.
Phase Three: Construction of the new museum began.
Unique Features:
With two levels being underground and four aboveground, the new museum includes features such as a monumental staircase, a learning center, program room, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library for Textile Arts, and staff offices and exhibition preparation areas.
The museum also features a sky bridge that connects to the adjacent historic Woodhull House, which is home to the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection — a collection of hundreds of rare papers, maps, drawings, and other artifacts chronicling the history of Washington, DC.