Know Before You Go…Into a Capital Construction Project!

ID: WMA2026_573

Track: Other

Bring your lessons-learned, best ideas, and biggest fears around construction, expansion and renovation projects. Hear from designers, engineers—and each other! Become empowered to start the design process with deeper knowledge and clearer expectations. 

The panel will advocate for robust pre-design phases, as you define your project, establish your values and determine design criteria most important to you and your team. Leverage terms like flexibility, resiliency and sustainability to set up a successful project. 

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Even the most technical architectural and engineering decisions can be mission-driven, connecting collections, visitors, staff, and mission. Attendees will see capital projects through a new lens.

Objectives:

• Become empowered to prioritize your vision and values during a construction project. 
• Familiarize yourself with terminology related to Basis of Design, Pre-Design and Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR).
• Leverage terms like flexibility, resiliency and sustainability to set up a successful project. 

The goal of this session is to set a bar for museum professionals to use as they select and work with thoughtful, attentive collaborators on the architecture, design and engineering side. 

(Note to the program committee - This is NOT a sales pitch! We are allied professionals who want to see museums and their consultants be successful as they define the problem they are trying to solve, and THEN find the folks who can help them solve it. We all enjoy the dialogue while museum teams are getting their feet under them to begin a project, and we enjoy giving back to the profession at conferences like this one. We want museums to hold their consultants to high standards!)

Engagement: We plan to engage the audience after each short topic, soliciting questions and “lessons learned” about capital construction and significant exhibit projects. The project theme of “uplifting voices” resonates here, because museum professionals can lose their voice and connection to values during expensive, stressful projects.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Other 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability:

For small and medium-sized museums who are contemplating growth, the path toward a significant capital campaign and construction project can be daunting. We hope to demystify that a bit, and help them feel empowered to set the parameters of the project ahead. 

For larger museums, individual team members may not have gone through a significant project involving architects, engineers, outside exhibit designers and contractors. This session will give them a level of comfort, and encourage them to define their vision and values for the project early—and stick to them throughout the work.

Participants