Project Relevance

· Unique Leakage Testing
· Central Heating and Ventilation System
· Monumental / Historic Building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most viable solution is a central heating and ventilating system with the unit located in the skirt space beneath the Dome, and distribution through existing hollow columns and thence into the space below the boilerplate and up through the Interstitial Space. To size the ventilation system, a leakage test was performed on the Dome, which indicated that the natural infiltration rate of the Interstiial Space is of the order of 6,700 cubic feet per minute under a wind velocity of 15 mph.

The work will be performed as part of the overall master planning and rehabilitation of the Dome.

 

Project Description

Study investigated the formation of condensation on the inside surface of the Dome of the Capitol of the United States. The condensation has begun to damage the Rotunda canopy, which holds Constantino Brumidi's 4664-square-foot fresco The Apotheosis of Washington. The Dome is constructed of cast-iron plates supported on a wrought iron structure. There is no insulation or other construction material between the outside air and the inside of the Interstitial Space other than the cast-iron plates. Study documents when there is a rapid fall in outside air temperature caused by a cold front moving through the city of Washington, there is a high probability that condensation will occur.