Are you being questioned over details - "The bays can be 6 inches 
narrower" - or over the big issue - "What do you need loading docks 
for?  They can park on the street?"  If it's a big-issue fight - you v. 
architects, you v. administration, you v. everyone - you'll probably 
have to do much patient explaining, ending with "Because this is my job 
and I said so."  I was involved in planning and construction of a NC 
museum and we fought constantly with the architect over doorway width 
and having a large cargo door into a ground floor gallery, so we could 
bring in large artifacts (like a stock car) if we wanted.  "What are you 
going to bring in?  Are you really ever going to use it?  The door's too 
wide, you can't suppport the weight.  It will interfere with the 
exterior aesthetics."  Engineers told us the architect's structural 
comments were false, he just didn't want to have a big loading door 
there.  Designing museums seems to be a battle between the employees who 
know what they need and architects, administrators and funders who want 
a pretty building.  If anyone's worked with an architect who's 
passionate about making sure that the copy room doorway is actually big 
enough to move in a copier, or believes the registrar when she says "I 
need a 12 foot doorway, not 8 foot", I'd love to hear about it.

John Marks
Geneva (NY) Historical Society

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