Let’s Explore the Ohio History Center 50th Anniversary August 23, 2020
Sullivant Hall, Ohio State University, High St.
Former Governor’s Residence, E. Broad St.
First some background -Founded in 1885, the Ohio History Connection, had no building of its own until 1914 when the state museum and library, Sullivant Hall, was built on the Ohio State University campus. In 1927 the Ohio General Assembly authorized state agencies to transfer their old records to the Ohio History Connection; three decades later the organization became the official state archives and the former Governor’s Residence on Broad Street in downtown Columbus became its depository. By the early 1960s, with the organization operating out of two overcrowded facilities miles apart, the trustees authorized the director to begin studies for a new center. The time was ripe for a new home for our organization.
Meet the Players Governor James A. Rhodes Board of Trustees and Daniel R. Porter, Director, Ohio History Connection W. Byron Ireland, Architect, Ireland & Associates Peter Korda, Structural Engineer, Korda Engineering R. W. Setterlin & Sons of Columbus, Building Contractors
August 22, 1966, Groundbreaking ceremony, Governor Rhodes (center), Byron Ireland, architect (left side of Governor). Donald Weaver (left end)
Their timing was fortuitous: in 1964, Governor James A. Rhodes proposed a $290 million bond issue for many state projects, among them funds for a new historical center and improvements at other historic sites throughout Ohio. Voters approved the bond issue in May 1965 and by October plans were underway to build the new center for the Ohio History Connection on a fifty-eight-acre site of undeveloped land near the state fairgrounds and overlooking the newly constructed interstate highway. Trustees organized a building committee chaired by Donald E. Weaver, chief editor of the Columbus Citizen Journal newspaper. Aided by the society’s new director, Daniel R. Porter, Weaver selected a Columbus architectural firm, Ireland & Associates to design the new Ohio History Center. The firm was headed by W. Bryon Ireland.
Ohio History Center • • • •
Modern, inspiring piece of architecture, contrast with the collection Modern, monumental design, convey its dual purpose (museum + library) Accommodate large number of visitors Relate to the natural curve of I-71
In planning the building – the trustees wanted a modern inspiring piece of architecture and a building that would clearly contrast with the collections. The architect designed a modern monumental building that conveyed its dual primary purposes as a museum and an archives/library. The architectural program called for consolidating Ohio’s history museum, state archives and the historical society’s library in a building that could accommodate large numbers of visitors and take advantage of the natural curve of the newly constructed I-71 interstate highway, a distinctive feature running along the front of the site. Byron Ireland was a young architect with a degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design. Prior to starting his own firm in Columbus, Ireland worked as senior project designer for the famed architect Eero Saarinen, working on projects including the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA Terminal at New York’s Kennedy Airport. The Ohio History Connection was the first major commission for the Ireland’s firm.
Ohio History Center • • • • •
Balance Symmetry Brutalism Monumental Spaces Bold, Geometric Shapes
Board-formed concrete surface
The architect’s goal was “to bring alive” and dramatize Ohio’s historical heritage through the design of the building and site. Although Ireland did not label his design, the Ohio History Center is usually described as Brutalist architecture. Brutalism is a modern stylistic term describing mid-twentieth century buildings, primarily of concrete construction, conveying the nature of their construction through rough-finished surfaces and bold, geometric massing. The building is monumental in scale, featuring skillful use of boardformed concrete, plus a simple and artfully employed vocabulary of other materials, among them originally Ohio-made silo tile as the exterior material, dark-stained oak, terrazzo, and glass. The design emphasized symmetry and balance to produce a memorable structure that grew out of the architect’s strong dramatic sense of the building’s functions. Definition: Board-formed concrete – as the walls and other surfaces were constructed concrete was poured into a frame made of roughfaced wood boards. Once the concrete hardened the boards were removed and the wood texture (grain, knot holes and all) was embedded into the concrete surface.
Director Daniel Porter explained the three-part plan by comparing it to a sandwich: a block housing the archives and library over a glass-enclosed plaza above a triangular base housing three and a half acres of exhibit space. The project is essentially two buildings stacked one above the other and linked by a square plaza in between that serves as a shared point of entry to both. All of the concrete used throughout the building was cast-in-place – meaning it was poured and formed on site as the building was being constructed. 21,000 cubic yards of concrete used in construction. Fifty thousand tons of earth was moved to create an egg-shaped mound reminiscent of Ohio’s prehistoric earthworks that also serves as a noise barrier between the center and I-71.
Ohio History Center Construction Looking Down at cruciform pattern of ground floor museum – March 18, 1968
Ohio History Center Construction Looking toward NW June 14, 1968
Ohio History Center Construction Looking toward NW February 15, 1969
Ohio History Center Construction
Exterior construction showing plaza level view with support towers for cantilever overhang
Ohio History Center Construction
View looking southwest from current day North Parking Lot
Let’s start a tour through the building. The ground-level museum floor is a triangularshaped space, reflecting the Ohio History Connection’s traditional emphases – Archaeology, History, and Natural History. The exhibit space, the largest open space in the building, is punctuated by massive concrete cruciform support columns and a diagonal grid of beams supports the roof. (much of the roof covering the museum floor is the grassy lawn seen from the Plaza level).
Looking at the plan – we see the triangular layout and the x’s are the cruciforms. The ceiling beams tie into the Cruciforms that are the structural columns – poured using the wood plank forms and called cruciforms because they are cross-shaped in plan. This structural configuration is called a Diagrid (diagonal grid) and allows the roof to slope.
Plaza level
Red Carpet Area
The original entrance was up the monumental front steps into the Plaza level. The idea was that the visitor could ascend up to the Archives-Library, or descend into the museum. Red carpet area – raised focal center of museum floor, featuring the grand double suspended stairway. Definition: SYMMETRY – mirror image from an imaginary center line.
The most daring feat of architecture is the three –story block housing the archives/library that appears to float above the plaza. This is a massive block of concrete – 196 feet square – 4 stories* that is cantilevered out on all four sides some 40 feet – one of the largest such spans achieved at the time. How does it do that?? In the lower photo, notice the beams that extend to the outside of the building. These are walls extending up 4 stories and act as enormous beams as they work with four corner square concrete cores. Together they hold up the archives-library space above. (* 3 floor levels plus a mezzanine level make up the Archives-Library block)
Terms to know • Cantilever - a beam that projects out and is supported at only one end • Compression - a force that squeezes or presses a material together • Tension - a force that stretches or pulls apart a material
corner service core
corner service core and concrete patch
hydraulic jack
The cantilevered construction of the building is achieved through a combination of the forces of tension and compression working together through the concrete and cabling. See the 4-story walls and corner service cores inside the building on the Plaza level. Inside the concrete walls are 193 miles of cables that literally suspend the archives/library from four concrete service cores extending 70 feet down to bedrock. At a time when they were still novel for structural design, computers were used to define the precise locations where tension stresses would occur in the concrete. During construction, cables were embedded in the concrete walls at those points, and after the concrete had cured, workmen installed hydraulic jacks to pull the cables, introducing compressive stresses that counteracted the tension, reinforcing the concrete. The technique allowed the designers to create an extremely strong structure while using less material. Two of the hydraulic jacks have been left exposed in to order to show this construction technique. Around the wall where you see what look like concrete patches – these are the panels installed after the jacks had been used to tighten the cabling in the concrete.
Structural engineer Peter Korda tells that story that on the day the scaffolding that had been in place during the construction of the building was to be removed there was a great concern that the building would collapse – because of the large cantilevered spans that had been put in place. So confident of the design, engineering, and construction of the building Korda proudly stood under the front cantilever with his hard hat on as the corner supports were removed – the building deflected a mere Ÿ of an inch. And has served as a dramatic visual icon ever since.
So, what is the cantilever holding up? Perhaps the most dramatic interior space is the archiveslibrary reading room; the 3-story “baronial� space rising through the core of the cantilevered block is suspended over the plaza and red carpet area staircase to the exhibits of the lower floors. The reading room features a coffered concrete ceiling with skylights providing abundant natural light to the researchers seated at the sturdy oak library tables. Surrounding the reading room are three levels of library stacks, offices and research-related spaces completing the dramatic cantilevered block supported by the hollow corner concrete cores. Describe as 3 stacked square donut-shapes.
Back on the ground floor, the auditorium is located at one apex of the triangular first floor museum space. Like the library reading room, height creates monumental space. The auditorium’s grand gathering space is defined with a coffered concrete ceiling whose height actually penetrates to a copper projection on the west outdoor plaza area. The central coffer where the lights are rests on four beams that cantilever out from the sidewalls. The auditorium side walls feature naturally finished oak doors angled to provide a pleated appearance to the board form concrete walls. Such detailing here and throughout the building presents architectural detailing and ornamentation that is integral to the building’s structure versus applied to achieve a specific effect.
Ohio Village •
January 1966 Ohio Historical Society began drafting plans for a historic village to recreate the commercial, political, and social activities of a typical Ohio village from 1800-1860.
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Ohio Village opened July 27, 1974
Ohio History Center – By the Numbers
$7,560,000 construction costs 21,000 cubic yards of concrete 193 miles of quarter inch post-tension steel cable 271,762 total square feet 55,000 exhibit area square feet 1,243 parking spaces
Thank You! www.ohiohistory.org www.sah-archipedia.org