Carousel Enclosure at the New York State
Cultural Education Center
Albany, New York
A historical carousel, made in New York City in 1912 by the Herschell-Spillman Company, found its new home on the exterior terrace of the Cultural Education Center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany.  The carousel is a high- profile attraction at the New York State Museum.  The 6,000-square-foot, steel-framed enclosure features exposed pipe roof trusses supported by latticed pipe columns, glass curtain walls, and thin marble fascia and soffit panels to match the existing building.  RBA analyzed the existing plaza structure of reinforced structural concrete to determine its capacity to support the carousel enclosure.  A concrete ring beam, conveniently concealed by finished wood to create benches which surround the carousel, distributes the column loads to avoid overloading the existing structure.  The project cost was approximately $2.5 million.  Liscum McCormack VanVoorhis was the Architect.