Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation, Houston, TX

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's (MFAH) new Center for Conservation was designed to house the
museum's previously dispersed and cramped conservation studios under one commodious roof for the
first time. Composed of airy, flexible studios added atop an existing museum building, the new center
redefines the campus' eastern edge while complementing the museum's evolving architectural lineage.
The new center is approximately 27,500 SF.

Four studio bays are cantilevered from the building’s North and West façades to articulate the different
conservation disciplines while allowing glimpses inside. Designed to optimize diffused daylight, the studio
bays are oriented East/West and topped with shaped roofs and north-facing clerestory windows.

The building utilizes an innovative structural strategy utilizing both mass timber and steel. It is the first
installation of Dowell Laminated Timber (DLT) panels in North America, and was prefabricated, panelized,
and lifted into place, resulting in quicker on-site construction. The DLT panels are left exposed to lend the
warmth and texture of wood.  This project was designed in collaboration with Lake/Flato Architects.

Client: Museum of Fine Art Houston
Design Team: Edward Gormley and Lis Cena at SAA (Conservation Designer), Lake Flato Architects
(Design Architects), Kendall Heaton Associates (Executive Architect), Collaborative Engineering Group
(MEP), Cardno Haynes Whaley Associates (Structural)
Builder: W.S. Bellows Construction Corp
Photographer: Peter Molick

PUBLICATIONS:
2018 - Houston Chronicle
2018 - Houstonia Magazine
2018 - Forbes
2018 - ARCHITECT Magazine
2018 - ArchDaily