EXPERIENTIAL ARCHITECTURE + GREEN DESIGN

Fancifully interactive, accessible ramp circulation and solar power.
Proposed for the next revitalization phase in downtown Louisville Kentucky, this new Louisville Children's Museum, "The Ring", embodies both experiential and sustainable Green design. Its primary circulation features an ADA-grade ramp in an innovative format that discards traditional floor planes. Bold geometric shapes and rainbow colors enhance the experience inside and out.

Over 500 solar panels form part of The Ring’s southern skin. Visible to museum visitors and passersby on Louisville's 3rd Avenue, they broadcast “green design”. Prominent exterior and interior LED lit signs highlight the solar panels’ sustainable and educational attributes, continuously updating their daily energy contribution. Other green design elements include fenestration oriented to access natural light and seasonal solar heat.

Open, enticing and people friendly outside and in, street level view corridors.
Set back from West Broadway at 3rd Avenue, both northeast and southeast corners create pedestrian plazas. The street-level view corridors provide visibility from West Broadway through to the Louisville Free Public Library.

The Ring’s bold geometric shape annunciates a fun and forward looking architecture: a play on primary shapes, symmetry and asymmetry with inherent energy inside and out. The fanciful design provides a memorable and enticing venue for children and their parents.

Continuous flow of circular stages.
Without traditional floor planes, a ring of cloudlike exhibit stages swirls around the central atrium from the street level Lobby to a rooftop Planetarium, providing 130,000sf (12,000sm) of museum space in the 186,000sf (17,000sm) building. Comprising four museum levels, each of the sixty-five 1,500sf (140sm) platforms elevates 1ft (0.3m) with an integral ADA-grade ramp. While progressing among exhibits along the one-foot rising ramp, one hardly notices the gradual elevation change. Walk the continuous spiral or take the elevators.

Flexible design.
Each circular platform designates an independent space for temporary or permanent exhibits, hands-on or discussion areas, rest rooms, or storage. They can be configured as open space, canopied or as a room, color coded to each of the museum themes. The Pre-K play area, Pre-K Discovery Room and access to the below-grade 200 seat Theatre reside on the street level with a Cafe, Museum Store, offices and storage. The 225 seat Planetarium is on top and parking for 125 cars is underground.

As redevelopment of downtown Louisville Kentucky continues, a proposed HiTech Incubator and Parking Garage to front on 2nd Avenue can echo the geometric theme across the park.

Site Area:  approximately 55,000sf (5,100sm)
Building Footprint: 41,000sf (3,800sm)
Program:  Children's Museum and educational green design.
Sustainable Design Features: Building Integrated PV Solar Panels, rainwater collection and storage, daylight Illumination, reuse of local barn wood.
Annual Output Capability: 123,000 kWh