Carnegie Museum
Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems
Jendoco Construction Corporation’s experience with creating exhibit spaces in the Pittsburgh Area continues to grow with the recent completion of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. Jendoco served as the Construction Manager and General Contractor for the complete renovation of the exhibit hall, including new structural supports for the hexagon display cases, extensive environmental climate controls, new life safety and fire protection devices as well as coordination of the State of the Art Security System.
The structural system for the ceiling mounted display cases included Jendoco overseeing the design and fabrication of 5 foot deep unistrut trusses that had to be mounted to the existing structure to support the cases. The system allowed infinite adjustments in height to compensate for the dimensional changes prevalent within a 100 year old structure.
Work also included plaster restoration to ornate moldings, utilization of existing marble to restore the intricate patterns in the Wertz Gallery and the creation of new marble base utilizing salvaged materials. Jendoco worked closely with the exhibit curators to ensure the coordinated completion of display cases and the electrical support rough-ins required in the gallery setting.
The Grand Opening was set in advance of start of construction and this extensive coordination allowed the opening date to be maintained, while solving the unforeseen problems that occur when working in an existing structure. One of the first obstacles encountered was upon cutting a new doorway into an existing wall and 38 electrical conduits were found to be in that location and had to be rerouted while maintaining existing services throughout.
Jendoco is proud of the problem solving expertise of their field and project management personnel that was necessary to complete the exhibit renovations.
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