At the end of last year, Bast Floors & Staircases was hired to work with the architects for the expansion of the Norton Museum of Art, located in West Palm Beach, Florida. The museum, which was founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife, Elizabeth, houses more than 7,600 works in five curatorial departments, including European, American, Chinese, Contemporary, and Photography.
In 2013, Norton trustees decided to expand the museum, hiring the renowned London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners to design a new building. The new 59,000-square-foot building, which opened Feb. 9, 2019, was designed to cater to the growing community that visits the museum and, of course, the expanding collection of art.
FLOOR FOCUS
The wood flooring selected for this job was prefinished European white oak. “Our team worked with the architects on the project to provide input regarding the 16,000-square-foot installation,” says Remiah Newton, Vice President of Bast Floors & Staircases. “The best part of my job is interacting with our clients as well as the design/build teams. I thoroughly enjoy working together to create a plan of action and then seeing everything come together from start to finish,” says Newton.
The floors were installed with a glue-down application. The flooring on the first level of the museum was glued to the slab and the flooring on the second and third levels of the museum was glued to the sleeper system.
“Because part of the museum included new construction, there were elevation differences between the existing slab and the new slab,” adds Newton. “This required additional preparation and sleeper adjustments to create a flat substrate.”
“This job was truly one of a kind. The architects were very satisfied with the result, and we felt very proud to play a part,” says Newton.
Reference: norton.org