March 2019
Norton Museum of Art – Façade completed
The new addition for the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach has been opened to the Public this spring! Designed by Architect Sir Norman Foster from London and executed by USA specialty metal-glass contractor NEC, LED supported from NYC with detail engineering, full sets of shop and fabrication drawings for all specialty enclosure elements, from hidden glass edge toggles all the way to bespoke metal frames to support massive elegant entry doors.
More than seven years of planning, design, fundraising, and construction come to fruition with the grand opening of this total renovation. Our goal was to help detail- design a transparent, stringent weather-proofed feature facade that would provide ample amounts of sunlight into the museum spaces, while also securely protecting the artwork and sculptures inside from rain and debris, especially hurricane events. This included custom intensive 1:1 hurricane impact testing for structurally sealed jumbo-size & laminated safety glazing, including its visually minimized support conditions all around the panel.
“The Architects from Foster + Partners, including Norman Foster himself, immediately saw that the Norton needed to be ‘a museum in a garden’ and take advantage of the beautiful Florida sunrises and sunsets,” The new building has been transformed in many ways, but the strategic addition of so many windows–big ones–as well as a giant oculus in the Great Hall
allows natural light to stream into the building, adding to a welcoming ambiance and allowing visitors to gaze into the sculpture garden or out at the majestic Banyan tree.” - quote by Scott Bernarde, Norton Museum of Art Director of Communications
photos below by Nigel Young | Foster + Partners Photographer
