Gerriets Designs Unique Curtain System at Pérez Art Museum Miami

	Pérez Art Museum Miami's curtain system by Gerriets

An innovative curtain system created by Gerriets transforms Pérez Art Museum Miami's grand staircase into sound-absorbent and light-blocking auditoriums -- and redefines "state-of-the-art" for acoustical curtain systems. Thanks to an innovative system of motorized tracks and sound-absorbent curtains that were custom-engineered and manufactured by Gerriets, the grand staircase at the heart of Miami's stunning new art museum also functions as a flexible assortment of auditorium spaces.

As an article in the Miami Herald marveled, "It's a staircase! And a movie theater! And a lecture hall? The broad set of stairs leading from the first to second floor was built to serve many roles. A curtain surrounding the staircase double as a movable acoustic wall."

At the touch of a single button, the Gerriets curtain system at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) transforms the museum's central staircase -- an expansive, three-story space made entirely of concrete -- to serve as seating areas for various purposes, including lectures, film screenings, concerts, and performances. This fulfills one of the most unconventional aspects of the building's design, by Herzog & de Meuron -- it has no separate auditorium closed off from the general public.

The Gerriets system is comprised of more than 390' of custom-engineered, motorized track on which an array of specially manufactured, sound-absorbent, and light-blocking curtains can be wirelessly controlled into seven different configurations.

Of the eight principal curtains in the PAMM system, the largest measures more than 72' wide by 27' high and weighs over 1,300lb. It can be deployed to isolate the upper seating area from the rest of the overall space. "At the outset of the PAMM project, there was no easy way of moving a curtain that massive back and forth along a curving track," says Nick Pagliante, managing director at Gerriets International. "So we devised new technology to fulfill that need."

Gerriets re-engineered its existing line of FRICTION-DRIVE motors -- a system for moving curtains that uses no rope; instead, both the leading and trailing edges of the curtain are moved via independent motors powered by an electrical conductor rail that is integrated into the curtain track. For PAMM, Gerriets customized a FRICTION-DRIVE system to share the same conductor rail as a power source but operate on separate radio frequencies, so the leading and trailing edges are operated individually by a single control station, and integrated into the building management system. The curtains are then perfectly choreographed to move into various preset positions.

In addition to subdividing the staircase space as needed to suit events of various types and sizes, the Gerriets curtain system creates a network of sound-absorbent passageways around the enclosed area. This serves the essential purpose of allowing visitors and staff to continue to move freely throughout the museum.

"With concrete walls, floors, and ceilings, and, for example, the sound of school groups moving past, the acoustical challenges are enormous," observes David R. Harvey of Harvey Marshall Berling Associates, acoustical consultants on the project. "Add to that," Harvey continues, "the fact that the concrete ceiling requires track mounted on the surface rather than recessed into pockets as can be done with conventional ceiling materials, and the challenge becomes even more daunting. A gap between the ceiling and the top edge of the curtain would be a problem both acoustically and visually."

Gerriets developed carriers to attach the curtains to the sides (rather than the bottom) of the carrier. The customized construction of the carriers allows the curtain to come virtually flush with the top of the track. This provides clean visual lines from floor to ceiling and blocks transmission of sound over the top of the curtain.

Yet another challenge: snugly fitting the bottom edge of the curtain to the intricate profile of the staircase. "This would be no small feat with any material," Pagliante says, "but the PAMM sound absorbent curtain is nine layers, with seven internal layers (that total a full inch thick) of technical fabric sandwiched by two outer layers of delicate, custom-printed chiffon. Each individual layer had to be cut separately after the curtain was assembled and hung." To ensure a perfect fit, Gerriets dispatched two expert technicians to PAMM to precision-cut and sew the bottom edge of the curtain on site.

"There is no other space that I know of -- and certainly none in the US -- with a motor-driven system of acoustic separation curtains that do what these do," says Harvey. He goes on to predict: "Herzog and de Meuron's visionary architectural design and the innovative curtain system Gerriets created for PAMM will change the way museums and other facilities integrate public space in the future."