Jennifer,
I agree with what everyone else has said so far.

When I was at Colonial Williamsburg in the early - mid 1990's the
conservation and collections departments were both heavily involved in the
planning of a new collections and conservation building as part of a larger
educational campus that included a new library, and the adaptive reuse of a
1930's school building to house the research, architectural research,
audio-visual, and publications departments.

And I am sure that I am preaching to the converted if you have already been
through one of these projects.

My first advice is that you need to heavily invest in all of the time and
detail in the planning process - get an architect and engineer with some
experience in doing museum support buildings - and really spend the time in
getting the whole staff involved in doing the program statements for the
project. Make sure that you and other staff have final review and approval
of all plans including the engineering schematics. You don't want to
discover that a light switch is in the wrong place, or that someone missed
that big water main line over the middle of collections storage, after the
construction starts or when you move in. If you have to do a change order
that deviates in any detail from the approved specs and plans that costs you
an absolutely amazing amount of money. Also make sure that someone on your
staff have final review and approval of the punch list and monitors what the
contractors are doing - don;t allow the general contractor to drive the
specs for the project or to have the power to "get it done" and leave. I saw
one situation where the contractors had no requirement to clean up, so they
left all sorts of debris in the ducts, and so for months after occupancy
there was fiberglass raining down in every space. You have to put it ALL in
writing and make it stick. Remember that saying about "assuming"? It applies
especially to construction projects. Preparation is your best ally in this -
so you get the building you want and need for the price you expect to pay.

As far as a conservation lab goes - that is rather specialized and you
either need your in-house conservator to research and plan that or to get a
consultant. Much depends if it will be a specialized lab for a particular
media or more of a general one, and also what type of collections you
anticipate treating in there.

Cheers!
Dave


David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, CA

On Feb 6, 2008 8:08 AM, Jennifer Holt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  For those of you who've built additions and/or new museum structures in
> the past five years could you give me an estimate as to what your cost per
> square foot turned out to be?  It doesn't have to be exact.  I'm just
> looking for ballpark figures.
>
>
>
> Also, if you've built a conservation lab and/or collection storage space
> recently I'd love to talk with you.
>
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jennifer
>
>
>
> Jennifer Holt
>
> Curator
>
> Will Rogers Memorial Museums
>
> P.O. Box 157
>
> 1720 West Will Rogers Boulevard
> Claremore, Oklahoma 74018
>
> t:  918.343.8124
>
> f.  918.343.8119
>
> www.willrogers.com
>
>
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