Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
The original Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience opened in Utica, MS in 1986 at the Henry S. Jacobs Camp but eventually closed in 2012. The search then began for a new location for the Museum that would reach more people – both Jewish and non-Jewish alike. That location was none other than New Orleans. The MSJE is a vibrant center for cultural exploration and understanding, an important educational facility, and also a popular tourist destination.
In 2020 the Museum announced their future opening in early 2021 in the heart of New Orleans’ Art District. The historic preservation project consisted of renovating a 33,000 square foot, 5-story 1916 historic building. The project included four floors with 14 luxury apartments with the first floor occupied by the Southern Jewish Experience Museum. Moses Engineers provided all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design and construction administration services for the entire project. The Museum features 9,000 square feet of core and rotating exhibitions. These exhibitions explore the diverse relationships, experiences, and environments encountered by Jewish communities over the past 300 years.
Services Provided by Moses Engineers
Moses Engineers provided all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design and construction administration services for the entire project. Mechanical renovations included two new Dedicated Outside Air Systems (DOAS) with a heat pump system providing heating and cooling to all non-residential building areas. The Museum was provided with a VRF system for critical temperature control. The residential units utilize conventional DX systems. Both the VRF and DX systems allow individual electric meter monitoring for building cost controls. Similarly, individual domestic water heating was also implemented for cost controls.
Additional building-wide systems provided by Moses Engineers include Fire Suppression with a fire pump and jockey pump. An Access Control system installed includes exterior video for parking surveillance and entry functions. Two emergency generators with automatic transfer switches were also installed, one for the Museum and one for the rest of the building.
We provided the design of interior lighting, exhibit-theatre lighting, and lighting control systems. We also designed the power systems, a standby power generator system, the cooling/heating system, and the interior plumbing systems. Moses Engineers was also able to design modifications to the existing building fire protection system and expand their previous fire alarm system.
To learn more about the MSJE and for more information about visiting, check out their website listed below. Images courtesy of MSJE.org
Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience | New Orleans
