The brief
The TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre in the historic Pah Homestead hosts prestigious art exhibitions that have strict loan requirements relating to the precious pieces of art and sculptures. When storing or exhibiting valuable art, the environment must be kept with stable and precise humidity and temperature control.
Auckland Council engaged Jacksons to provide an engineering solution that would bring the building up to international gallery standards.
Our solution
Jacksons needed to design a system that could supply precision humidity and temperature-controlled air conditioning for three exhibition halls and an art storage room. To keep artworks safe and make the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre a viable option for loaning valuable art, we devised HVAC systems that keep the gallery at a constant Indoor dry bulb temperature range of 21°C+/-1°C and an indoor relative humidity range of 50%HR+/-5%RH.
To add to the complexity of the job, Pah Homestead is over 140 years old and is a heritage building with all of the variables that this encompasses. Also, the exhibition spaces are used for a variety of purposes, including events, concerts, as well as being a gallery. This meant the air conditioning systems needed to factor in changes in the number of people (and body warmth) in the spaces, while keeping within very specific temperature and humidity readings.
The outcome
Jacksons worked with Auckland Council and TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre throughout all stages of the project to ensure that all parties’ needs were satisfied. This project was completed in 2019.