Saint John Paul II National Shrine

The renovation and expansion project was designed and constructed through an integrated project delivery process to develop solutions that best meet the needs of the owner at a reasonable cost. The process is extremely collaborative in practice and consists of a preliminary assessment of conditions, team meetings to discuss the preliminary designs, schematic design and budget pricing, working document development and pricing, and a final value management review to assess subcontractor comments to issued design packages. This process allows all parties to contribute expertise and experience to successful completion of the project. The renovation and expansion were phased over three years.

The first renovation developed the 16,000 sq. ft. permanent exhibit dedicated to preserving and promoting the memory and legacy of St. John Paul II. This phase was accelerated so that it could be opened in April 2014, to coincide with the Canonization announcement of Saint John Paul II.  Subsequent renovations affected all of the public spaces in the building, as well as a dedicated oratory space and main church, renovation of the existing chapel, 3,600 sq.ft. exhibit gallery for rotating exhibits, a new museum store, renovations to the food service areas and updates to the facility’s mechanical and electrical systems to preserve the Shrine’s collection of documents and artifacts.

The addition of a Winter Garden was developed to infill the entire existing interior open courtyard. This area houses a single-story structure dedicated to visitor and event overflow space. The design included installation of a massive curtainwall and skylight system encompassing the Winter Garden to provide ample natural light to the below grade level.

The housing and display of artifact collections occupies approximately 10,000 sq. ft. of the building area and is one of the most important features of the facility. Critical control of the interior temperature and relative humidity is required to prevent damage of sensitive artifacts and documents as well as control of water penetration through the building envelope and extensive exterior plaza areas which are above the lower level of the facility, where artifact storage is located.

• Building envelope consultant
• Waterproofing
• Hygrothermal analyses