ARCHITECTURE
AT
PITTSBURGH
A
THE
SERVICE
OF
HISTORY
INDUSTRIAL
DE S IG
N
P R OP O SA
Submitted in Partial
For the Degree of
Master
MUSEUM
Fulfillment of
L
the Reauirements
of Architecture
at the
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
June 1982
August G. Schaefer 1982
B.
A.,
Dartmouith College
1976
The Author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to
reproduce and distribute publicly copies of this
thesis document in whole or in part.
Signature of Author
Dep
Aent of
rchitecture
March
Certified by I
10, 1982
(
Imre Halsz, Professor of Architecture
Thesis Supervisor
Accepted byg0-j
Professor Edward Robbins, Chairman
Comrittee for Graduate Students
MASSACHUSETS NTITUTepartmental
JUL 271982
LIBRARES
ARCHITECTUPE AT THE SERVICE OF HISTORY:
THE PITTSBURGH INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
AUGUST G.
SCHAEFER
Submitted to the Deartment of Architecture on
March
10, 1982, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture
ABSTPACT
Colonial stronghold, gateway to the west, forge and hearth for the industrial
growth of the United States, the City of Pittsburgh, like few others, lays strong
claim to prominence in all eras of the nation's development.
The thesis is a design proposal for a museum facility in which to exhibit a
collection of artifacts and documents of that particular heritage, a place in which
the city' s people and visitors will be informed of the roles Pittsburgh has played
The objective is to create a center which not only
in the history of the country.
provides a home for research and display, but which also communicates the public
nature of its offerings. It is, therefore, a proposal to study the manner in which
architecture both specifically and emblematically contributes to cultural and historical understanding.
It is my thesis that with care, a building can be designed which both in form
and content creates an environment organizing perceptions of history. The intent
lies in a means of defining the potential for architecture to strenathen memories
of particular civic interest.
Imre Halasz
Thesis Supervisor:
Title: Professor of Architecture
r
3
As I draw to a close on this project it occurs
to me that it
is,
as with all things, a beginning,
the extent of an idea or set of ideas for which my
enthusiasm has never diminished.
These interests all coalesce around a fundamental
theme,
that of city life and the acknowledgements
of the events which form a metropolitan centre such
as Pittsburgh, by the people who now consider it
their
hame.
It
is
a place of raw,
a
natural beauty, which in
curious and poetic way has proved its resiliance
against the constant development which has taken place
there since the settling of Fort Duquesne by French
colonials in 1758.
If
anything is
cononly known of
its history, it is in the development of heavy industry in the latter half of the 19th century; a time of
brutal working conditions for the poor, advancement
of laissez-faire capitalism for the rich and the escalation of America to world power status.
All of that
history was, in some sense, played out in Pittsburgh
where a growing metropolis mined the forests and
spread factories mile after mile upon the banks of
its rivers.
It was rapacious development with not a
thought given to the future either of its people or
its physical environment, holding within its realm
the contents of a fascinating American story.
certain resonance to the understanding of the city's heritage by making use of the
iconography of industrial architecture caronly seen along its riverbanks. It is
the goal of the thesis to synthesize these three objectives, providing an accessible, understandable design.
What one describes, as a result, is nothing so literally identifiable as a
Pittsburgh architecture, rather an architecture which takes notice of regional conditions, both formal and natural, as a basis for design so that in same ways one
can see Pittsburgh in it.
In its fullness architecture comes to act in deference
to, and as definition of its physical, cultural and historical circumstances.
SITE
AND
PROJECT
DESCRIPTION
Situated directly across from the downtown business district, the museum site
BACKGROUND
is
The thesis presented here has been worked out in
burgh History & Landmarks Foundation
in
large part,
to preserve the city's
conjunction with the Pitts-
(PHLF), a non-profit organization established,
heritage.
Since 1972,
small museum in a restored post office on the city's
they have operated a
Northside,
where due to space
limitations only a portion of their full holdings are on display.
presently stored in a warehouse.
The balance is
It is the interest of this organization to relo-
cate its museum, more than doubling its present size.
The Foundation encouraged my speculation by outlining their interests and requirements for a new building.
It was my decision to use these projections as the
basis for design work, and to present a set of drawings contributing ideas and
separated fram it
by the Monongahela River,
a broad waterway,
steely gray in
color, coursing slowly through the heart of the city to join the Allegheny in
ing the headwaters of the Ohio.
form-
The property, part of a 40 acre carmercial devel-
opmrent on an abandoned railway yard, is itself a featureless plane built up over
the years by landfill to the height of twenty feet, and held from the waters edge
by a railroad right-of-way forming the crest of the river embankment.
flooding has made use of the waters edge inipossible.
Seasonal
At the properties opposite
edge lies a major cormuter road, another set of tracks and there upon ccnmences a
thickly wooded, uninhabitable bluff sare 400 feet high, to a point above from
which one has a panoramic view of the city; a view shared fram a different perspective by the structure below.
The major task in the formulation of the museum design was the ability of
images toward the formulation of the actual facility.
finding the most resolute means of fixing the building in environs so dominated by
starkly contrasting natural features.
Seen at a distance, from the city's highway lanes and office towers, the museum stands out, brightly colored against the darker bluff.
OBJECTIVES
The particular considerations leading to the formulation of the building are
as follows:
first,
that the artifacts and displays be orchestrated in
such a way
as to suggest relationships as directly as possible, between Pittsburgh's industrial,
cultural and carmercial development,
secondly, that the building itself
seek
a specific formal relationship with the city, and finally, that the design add a
The long horizontal
face which frames seven identical bays, breaks slightly from the wall surface in
the eighth bay then steps back to join the taller gallery block to the right.
facade is effectively divided into two parts.
pulls the two masses together.
The
A third element superimposed there
It will be recognized, in somewhat abstracted form
as a signal tower of the type constructed along the railroad yards in the area.
The long vault set on the roof of the lower section pays tribute to the train shed.
The use of motifs taken fran industrial architecture acknowledge the comonness of its place in the physical environment, as well as its appropriateness in
the design of a structure dedicated to its preservation.
The actual approach to the museum fran the south reveals the building, at
The structure presents
first, obliquily through a screen of trees lining the road.
a more intimate face, a bit contradictory perhaps, certainly more of an assemblage
of forms and materials than its river elevation.
The curved shed roof notes the
plane curving gently to the left.
samewhat more restrained, presenting a smooth
The exterior surface is masonary, camposed of
iron-spot brick of brown-orange hue set between bands of limestone coursing, alternate bands corresponding to the interior floor elevations.
The administrative en-
trance is recessed slightly behind a glass curtain wall which itself is set back to
emphasize the flatness of the camposition.
the basement level offices to sunlight.
A berm to the left
of the entry exposes
Immediately to the right of the doors is
full scale logo of the Foundation operating the museum.
place there; in turn on the left, the lounge area of the archive and on the right,
the members' room. The large matching windows at the top again recessed from the
front surface, are set slightly above eye level on the third floor, providing natural light into the two story gallery, as well as a view out to the bluff rising
high above the building.
A series of brightly enameled metal tiles form a cornice
across the building, screening the mechanical roam on the fourth floor.
A narrow
balcony at the same level allows the visitor to step out of doors.
Based on the initial projections of the client PHIF, it
was apparent that
there was a need to provide a range of display areas which could acccrnodate the
variety of objects in their purvue. The major requirement lay with the collection
of transportation vehicles, demanding a sizeable envelope of space to be viewed in
Furthermore, the weight and lack of maneuverability of the cars and loccmotives recommended that they be fixed in place on a heavy concrete pad at ground
full.
level.
a
'Iwo groups of three windows
set into the wall on the second floor indicate the more private functions taking
The goal was, in a sense, to display the trains in an environment recreating
ting of other industrial artifacts, thus became the main organizing space around
which the galleries are located. The balance of the ground floor provides a large
uninterrupted floor area with 17 foot ceilings housing other rail cars, streetcars,
carriages and river boats. Set toward the north wall is a round transfer table
The visitor thus enters fram under cover of the exterior portico, through the
front doors, buys a pass and sees before him, broadside, a series of trains headed
by a 'barrel-type' locamotive in a fashion as if he had paid for a ticket to travel
larger space inside.
The four story gallery block is
in part the feelings associated with rail travel, and so toward this end the cars
have been -set in rows of two and three under a vaulted rodf, supported by deep
steel trusses. The use of the rail shed morphology, not inappropriate to the set-
with access through a service door and track to the outside. It is conceived as a
place possibly for the teporary display of a single train or vehicle on- loan frn
another institution, and can be decked over to accamodate a permanent display.
The large aluminum letters and
glass clerestory space shift the focus of attention fran the mass of the building
to a point where the public entrance is located.
5
to some distant city. Moving on, he steps out fram under the balcony into the hall
which indicates by its dimensions and materials that he might yet not be 'inside'.
On his right is another set of trains, in front the round table with other vehicles
set off to one side, and at his left, a grand staircase carrying him to the upper
galleries.
The mezzanine is orqanized by means of an ambulatory around the Hall of Transportation, giving further resolution to the primary space within the irregular configuration of the plan. The path of circulation cuts across the corner of the vault
and becames itself an area for display by means of a series of shallow niches set
into the wall containing wooden cases and wall panels. The central bay is left
open to allow the visitor, to lean out over the floor below, before turning in toward the largest of the buildings galleries extending the full length of its northern face. The floor area enclosed is intended to provide maximum flexibility,
which could be subdivided by panels for visiting and rotating exhibits, or permanent display of large scale objects, such as industrial machinery. The ceiling is
twelve feet in height, columns being set on a grid twenty by twenty-four feet.
Flat slab construction would permit the heaviest of artifacts to be placed there.
Continuing around to the east, the building extends out over the ramp below,
providing additional display area as an extension of the major space, again allowing for internal subdivision of bays depending on the character of the exhibits.
Turning back along the hall to the south, the corridor opens up to the vaulted area
over the entrance, before returning to the staircase. The hallway imediately
around the stair is tightly organized with entrances to the archive and members'
6
room, as well as elevator core and access to the floor above.
The third and fourth floor are well reduced in size.
With few windows, and
proportions suggesting more roam-like spaces, the upper two levels offer a quiet retreat into galleries containing smaller, more intimate displays. Their orientation
to the rest of the museum is completed by means of a hallway running along the short
end of the shed. On the north face, the exterior wall has been turned at an angle,
providing a small platform with a dramatic view of the city across the river.
A
spiral staircase housed within a glass canopy to the right, pulls the museum guest
'outside' the building before descending back to the mezzanine.
The building could, of course, be traversed in several ways.
The description
provided above indicates the range and character of its most important spaces and
suggests a certain processional quality in their relationship to one another.
The
route of circulation is at times within a gallery, or becames a gallery in its own
Internal organization of a facility such as this rests with the ability of
providing a structured space not so specific as to be inflexible yet implying a
right.
sequence of events marking a rhythm which draw the visitor fram one area to the
next.
On the right, views of the site from the
river and base of the bluff.
PROGRAM
7
INFORMATION
Sq. Ft.
Basement
Storage
Mechanical
Office
Over the years PHLF has assembled a large collection of artifacts,
3,200
2,800
2,000
Ground Floor
Auditorium (120 seats)
Coats
Bath
Ticket/Sales
Administration
Load Dock
Lobby
Display
vault area (9,600)
Second Floor
Library
Members Room
Special Gallery
Gallery A
Gen'l. Gallery (flex.)
Storage
Arcade display
Terrace
Clerestory display
a library of original prints and photographs, special collections of toys and costumes, victorian hame furnishings and stained glass.
bling an enormous quantity of artifacts of architectural and cultural merit.
tures, lamp standards, terra-cotta cornices and decorative reliefs, railings and
signage.
Mid-western railroad lines maintain private yards in which are stored
locamotives, cars and cabooses of historical importance.
Lot area
160,000 sq. ft.
F.A.R.
~=.6
Parking
200 cars
Scme have already offered
to turn these vehicles over to the Foundation, which has already accepted a small
number of street cars and machinery related to turn of the century public trans-
2, 700
300
1,700
3,600
11,050
600
2,700
500
1,200
port.
Industry has its own well-organized resources.
corporations has an archive chronicling its
correspondence,
4,000
7,200
400
history.
Each of the major private
These records, which include
photographs and models, form a revealing document about the city's
development and unfortunately, are rarely made accessible to the public.
It is
felt that companies involved in the major areas of interest such as steel, glass,
aluminum, chemicals and food processing would make extensive contributions to the
'4
All of which indicates the substantial resources from which the mus-
eum could draw to form the nucleus of its
Bessemer converter, used in the production of steel, restored and in-
4,000
3,900
500
Basement
Ground Floor
Second Floor
Third Floor
Fourth Floor
The
city has donated objects of interest from demolition projects such as bridge sculp-
stalled in 1979.
Fourth Floor
Gallery C
Gallery D
Mechanical
They have reconstructed and
restored entire roams of demolished mansions and saved facades of others, assem-
1,530
180
420
500
2,650
750
900
25,200
collection.
Third Floor
Gallery B
Long Gallery
Storage
including
Gross
Net
12,100
32,200
29,600
15, 000
7,650
8,000
30,100
24,350
11, 600
6,100
96,600 sq. ft.
80,200 sq. ft.
own presentations.
8
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The specifications for the development of the property included on grade parking capacity for at least 200 cars, a bus lane and shelter, and the continuation of
a tree-lined access road through the site, dividing it into two unequal sections.
Ansasement for the construction of a pedestrian ramp below the railroad tracks to
the rivers edge removed a swath of land thirty feet wide further reducing the actual buildable area along the waterfront.
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21
Preliminary design sketches showing section through vault, plans and details.
ore -
77
Preliminary elevation studies.