Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation

Art conservation facilities tend to be thought of as sterile laboratory spaces, but that isn’t true of this one at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. From the outset, the design team wanted to incorporate natural biophilic materials, specifically wood, to provide an appropriate warmth and texture to the laboratory environment. This hybrid project includes glulam columns and beams and dowel-laminated timber roof panels, as well as steel structural elements. The DLT roof is left exposed, offering a welcome contrast to the wall finishes that are necessarily neutral. The overall result blends the science and art of conservation to create spaces that perform superbly to their technical requirements while offering a warm and welcoming work environment for the art conservators.