Carrier Context:
Unique Projects


  Environmental Controls :
  Ensuring A Brilliant Future

Design and installation of the system were, in many ways, team efforts between Carrier and the Vatican's Office of Technical Services, whose employees know the building's intricacies better than anyone. Computer modeling of the Chapel's thermal behavior would have been impossible without the detailed drawings supplied by Vatican Technical Services. Technical Services' general management was the driving force in gaining approval for thousands of details that had to be resolved before the equipment could be installed without damaging the chapel's structural and cultural integrity. They also analyzed the system's capacity independently to make sure it would meet strict requirements.

The Carrier system required engineering expertise from Italy, France and the United Sates, but installing leading-edge technology in a 15th-century structure also required finesse. With solid masonry walls anywhere from 1.5 to three meters thick, installing sensors, ductwork and wiring without disturbing the aesthetic integrity of the chapel required the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job, one of whom was watching from a lunette.

The Sistine Chapel is much more than a gallery for the frescoes of Michelangelo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others — it is a functioning chapel used for Vatican religious services. In today's Rome, it may be hard to imagine the quiet of a 16th-century mass in the chapel, with little else but footfalls and perhaps Palestrina's Stabat Mater resonating off the walls. But turning back time has required eliminating as many 20th-century sounds as possible.

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