Houston, Texas
The Children's Museum of Houston's three-story annex with 16,740 SF was completed in 2008. It houses the museum's educational and administrative staff on levels two and three, respectively, in approximately 10,000 SF. Offering a combination of private offices and office cubicles, each floor contains space for up to 54 staff as well as conference meeting rooms. The first floor contains the museum's exhibit design offices and fabrications shop in approximately 3,000 SF.
The main design challenges for this annex involved the very small site and the museum's budget goal. The building footprint of 5,600 SF maximized the available building area after setbacks, so that parking had to reside on an adjacent lot where a residence had previously served as the education staff offices, which had to remain functional during the construction of the new annex. The budget dictated the use of metal siding, but this was related to the main building with a frieze of brightly colored letters spelling out the building address and functions.