The flooring installation at NASA’s Flight Dynamics Research Facility involved some of the most challenging site conditions our team has encountered. While the finished flooring was straightforward in appearance, the creativity required to deliver the project was logistical, driven by restricted access, complex interfaces, and technical constraints within a highly specialized research facility.
With elevator permits not approved, all materials were lifted and staged through an upper-level window using an articulating boom lift, requiring careful sequencing, additional manpower, and strict safety coordination.
Our team installed the full flooring scope, including 8,000+ square feet of custom foam sound-control underlayment, complete self-leveling, and LVT installation throughout. Additional work included 1,600 square feet of solid vinyl tile, 2,300 linear feet of base, and approximately 500 square feet of ceramic tile.
Installation required working around intricate testing machine track systems and elevated mezzanines, demanding nonstandard layouts and creative field solutions. Meeting these constraints required trial-and-error metal sourcing, on-site fabrication, and custom edge detailing, creating durable, finished transitions where no manufacturer details existed.
Despite extreme access limitations and technical complexity, the project was delivered successfully through creative planning, field-fabricated solutions, and close client coordination—demonstrating a high level of logistical creativity under exceptionally challenging site conditions.
Nancy Thiel, founder and principal of Thiel Architecture + Design, is a licensed architect and an interior designer. With 40+ years’ experience working with luminaries in the architecture world, including Michael Graves, Robert A.M. Stern, and Rockwell Group, where she served as a studio leader, Thiel’s extensive portfolio includes single-family homes and multi-story residences, hotels, restaurants, retail, fitness clubs, offices, theaters, schools and shopping centers. She is a member of the AIA, holds NCARB certification and is a LEED accredited professional. Prior to her career in architecture, Thiel was a dancer and choreographer.
Thiel Architecture + Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary architecture, interior design, planning, and product design firm with offices in CT and NY. The firm’s work focuses on high-end residential design as well as hospitality, contract, and retail projects. Thiel Architecture + Design’s work has been featured in Interior Design, Architype, New York and Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, Connecticut Magazine, Archello, and Fast Company magazines. In 2022, the firm received a Connecticut AIA Excellence award for Interior Architecture. Thiel earned a BA from Penn State University and her Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse University.
