culture

Gehry’s museum design poses a challenge to builders

Work on the Museo de la Bioversidad in the Amador Causeway is proceeding on schedule.

Supports for the unusual roof design are being manufactured at a steel plant in Pacora.

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raising the roof: Frank O. Gehry’s intricate roof design for his Museo de la Biodiversidad has not slowed construction on the project. Project supervisors and workers underwent special training just to be able to read the blueprints. 1065471

Construction is well underway on the Frank O. Gehry-designed Museo de la Biodiversidad on the Amador Causeway, with the building’s concrete frame nearly finished and the steel structures being molded to support the unusual roof design 50 percent complete.

The steel roof supports are being manufactured at a plant in Pacora, where 68 workers labor over the complicated design, which includes curved and diagonal planes welded at sharp angles, requiring a significant amount of pre-assemblage. The roof project currently occupies 95 percent of the factory’s capacity. Such whimsical roofs are signature elements of architect Frank O. Gehry’s designs.

Nova Group engineer César Kiamco, director for the project’s preliminary phase, said that all of the builders, welders and supervisors needed specialized training to achieve the results required by the unusual design. Simply reading the blueprints for the complex roof structures posed a challenge to project supervisors.

Kiamco dubbed the project “The Museo de Gehry,” which he said has served as a “school for thousands of Panamanians.”

One of the museum’s five roof structures is being outsourced to a company in Seattle, Washington. This part entails a curved portion that will cover the museum’s café, which will overlook the Bahía de Panamá. Installation of the roof’s first section is scheduled to start early next month and may take two to three months.