When the City of St. Paul began focusing on the renovation and redesign of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Braun Intertec was consulted to provide engineering and environmental consulting services.

Having completed previous projects around the museum, we were able to contribute substantial knowledge about this area and it’s past usages, as well as the extensive nearby tunnel locations that would affect this project.

We are proud to have been part of the foothold in the renovation of the Science Museum. Our goal throughout this high-profile project was to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information available to support the design team.

Challenges

Originally constructed in a historic area of St. Paul, the idea behind the renovation required careful consideration. The nearby Mississippi River would require close attention to detail, since construction of the museum would be immediately adjacent to its bluff to maximize space.

Portions of the site were reclaimed from the river over the years through the placement of various kinds of fill. The area contained many mapped and unmapped sandstone tunnels that could potentially impact the foundation installation. In addition, the top floor was set at street level and would require working into the current streetscape.

Solutions

Verifying that the tunnels did not impact the drilled shaft foundations was a crucial detail, so research of city archives was conducted to compile tunnel maps. The maps allowed us to develop a probe hole pattern at each drilled shaft to determine if any of the tunnels impacted the installation.

We needed to determine why the concrete sidewalk pavers degraded after a very short time in service. Special freeze and thaw testing was performed on pavers in different states of distress to develop a pattern for the distress and the potential causes.

It was important to manage the project to stay within the museum’s testing and inspection budget. With a project manager closely involved throughout the process, and onsite staffing of experienced personnel, we were able to conduct the special inspection and testing under budget.