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Wharton Esherick Museum Feasibility Study
Malvern, PA

Owner Founded in 1926, Wharton Esherick Museum has evolved from
Wharton Esherick Museum a sculpting studio, farmhouse and home into a museum with a
Architect visitor’s center. The museum is named after Wharton Esherick, who
N/A is known as the dean of American craftsmen and the founder of the
Size / Completion current Studio of Furniture Movement. His legacy was establishing
1,800 SF / 2018 a new style of art.
The museum’s existing HVAC system, at almost 40 years old, ran
continuously, making it highly energy inefficient. In addition, due
to the age of the system, replacement parts were hard to come by
and the refrigerant would soon be unavailable altogether.

To support the owner’s goal to upgrade the system, BBA surveyed
existing equipment and performed a conditions assessment of
the studio and office spaces. We then developed a performance
specification to allow a design/build contractor to replace the old
system with a new state-of-art system that includes humidity control
and will serve the building for years to come. The more efficient,
cost effective replacement was designed to adequately cool the
area, to enhance visitor experience and to preserve Esherick’s art
pieces in the museum.