Innovative glazing system shines light on hospital research

Daily Commercial News October 15, 2010
Page 13
Focus on Building Envelope
Chinese curtainwall
Innovative glazing system
shines light on hospital research manufacturers
are stiff competition
DAN O’REILLY
correspondent
N
ot only will it be a distinctive landmark on the Toronto
skyline when it opens in three
years, the new $419 million Sick Children’s Hospital Research Tower will be
a showcase example of how building
envelope design is meeting the demands
of modern research methods.
Designed by Diamond + Schmitt
Architects in joint venture with HDR
and now being built by general contractor EllisDon, the 708,000-square-foot,
22-storey building will allow the hospital to consolidate and enlarge its clinical
and research capabilities.
Approximately 2,200 researchers will
work in the facility, which will include
17 floors of open lab space, a 250-seat
tele-education auditorium, plus meeting and conference rooms.
Designed to achieve a 33 per cent
energy improvement over the Model
Energy Code, the building has been targeted to obtain LEED Gold certification.
The researchers will be conducting
their work in an environment filled with
natural light and offering full views of
the surrounding area, says Diamond +
Schmitt partner Donald Schmitt. “Most
days they won’t have to turn on the
lights.”
That environment will be facilitated
through a floor-to-ceiling high-performance curtain cladding wall with more
than 20 per cent more vision glass than
a comparable office building. “It will provide maximum access to daylight, while
still providing excellent thermal performance.”
The curtainwall will be a unitized
system to speed construction and minimize traffic disruption near the buildings site at the corner of Bay and Elm
streets in Toronto’s downtown, says
Schmitt.
The curtainwall “will be erected
straight from delivery trucks.”
At one time medical, scientific and
other research work was carried out
in often dark gloomy and windowless offices, he says. “It was similar to
the theory that children would study
harder if there were no windows in the
classrooms.”
But that’s no longer the case, says
Schmitt, whose firm designed the University of Toronto’s Earth Sciences Centre in the late 1980s.
“The centre pulled labs out of dark,
dingy basements,” he says.
The Hospital for Sick Children
research tower is a continuation of that
DON PROCTER
correspondent
C
DIAMOND + SCHMITT
The Sick Kids Research Tower uses a ceramic frit pattern on the glass to
maximize daylight and views. The curtainwall is a combination of solid glass
and vision glass.
trend and the decision that it be built
with a curtain wall was made early in
the design process.
But that was only the first half of a
two-stage design challenge, says Joseph
Troppmann, the firm’s building envelope specialist.
“The main challenge of the curtainwall design was to find the right balance
between maximizing views and daylight
penetration, and providing appropriate thermal and shading requirements
to minimize energy consumption and
maintain occupant comfort.”
To achieve that goal, the design team
developed a graduated ceramic frit pattern on the curtainwall, which consists
of 60 per cent vision glass and 40 per
cent solid glass.
Applied during the glass manufacturing process, the subtle frit patterns will create an effect that might be
roughly compared to a window blind,
says Troppmann.
“This design solution permits a tall
expanse of vision glazing which allows
daylight to permeate the inner core of
the labs.”
Another important use of the frit
patterns is their utility as an identification system. As the laboratories in towers will be clustered in related research
themes or “neighbourhoods,” different colours will be used to identify the
floors where that research will be carried out, he says.
anadian curtainwall
fabricators
should
prepare for increased
competition from the Chinese on large-scale projects.
There are more than 1,000
curtainwall manufacturers
in China, some of which
are among the largest in the
world, says Arthur Chan of
Advanced Glazing Systems
Ltd. (AGS). Don’t expect
them to ignore the Canadian
marketplace.
By comparison, there
are only a handful of major
curtainwall
manufacturers
remaining in Canada, he says.
Curtainwall is typically
specified for commercial
buildings. Office towers are a
good example. Windowwall
is less expensive and more
commonly used on residential towers.
Chan says big Chinese
manufacturers have been
plying their trade in North
America for two or three
years, mainly in the U.S.
“Canada is a very small market for them because we don’t
have a lot of tall buildings.”
Still, he believes Canadian companies such as AGS
can expect stiff competition
from Chinese manufacturers, some of which produce
high-quality
curtainwall
inexpensively, largely because
of cheap labour costs. Even
after the price of shipping,
Chinese curtainwall often
costs less than its Canadian
counterpart.
“We have to change our
way of thinking because
they are coming for some
of the larger projects (about
300,000 square feet or
more),” says Chan. “They can
manufacture in a hurry and
do good-quality work.”
The Chinese, he adds,
don’t scrimp on materials
either. The use of high-quality
extruded aluminum for curtainwall framing is common.
“They don’t go to some back
shop to get their aluminum;
they use manufacturers with
ISO 9000 certifications.”
One of the first Chinese
fabricators to work on Canadian soil is Far East Aluminium Works Canada Corp.,
a subsidiary of the Far East
Group based in Hong Kong.
Far East has supplied curtainwall to Canadian buildings
over the past few years and
is currently retained to supply the curtainwall systems
for two of Toronto’s largest
projects — The Trump International Hotel and and the
Shangri-La Toronto hotelcondo.
“I think the Canadian
market (for Chinese fabricators) will continue to grow,”
says Francis Ko, branch
manager of Far East’s Canadian operations. “A lot of
new highrise buildings will
go to curtainwall (systems).”
Many highrise condominium towers in Toronto and
Vancouver are specified with
windowwalls but increasingly, he says, curtainwall
systems will gain ground in
that segment of the market.
Far East has four factories in Asia producing a total
of 360 unitized curtainwall
panels per day. Typical panels are about five feet by 10
ft., says Ko.
Ko says Canadian buildings represent about 10
per cent of the company’s
business portfolio, which
includes such high-profile
international jobs as Burj
Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s
tallest tower.
Today, the bulk of its clients are in China, Abu Dhabi
and North America.
While Chinese fabricators
have access to cheap labour,
giving them an advantage
over Canadian competitors,
Ko says that the Chinese lead
is slipping somewhat because
labour rates in China have
risen significantly over the
past five years.
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Page 14
Daily Commercial News October 15, 2010
Focus on Building Envelope
Mould a byproduct of push for energy efficiency
Building science improvements,
new materials bringing relief
PETER KENTER
correspondent
T
he growth of mould
inside building projects has been the stuff
of lawsuits.
When mould grows
inside the building envelope, it’s usually the fault of
unwanted moisture caused
by poor construction practices, building envelope failures, floods, unwanted air
infiltration, and condensation or other moisture collecting in air handling units
or ductwork.
Conditions
conducive
to mould growth are being
slowly eliminated by an
increased emphasis on treating buildings as a system, but
the battle against mould continues.
“The problem never
seems to go away, and there
are always people in the
building industry who have
never experienced it,” says
Philip Brearton, operations
manager of the building
science group with Pinchin
Environmental Ltd. in Mis-
sissauga, Ont.
Trying to differentiate
between different types of
mould is primarily of interest to the companies hired
to remove it and remediate
buildings. It’s the by-products
of most moulds — reproductive spores and mycotoxins
— that are of prime concern
to building owners, because
they cause significant health
problems in building occu-
Training in
prevention
is now available
to contractors
pants, including respiratory
problems and headaches.
“If someone’s lungs are
already compromised or
they have an auto-immune
problem, are susceptible to
asthma, have lung disease
or are very young, they can’t
be exposed to an unusual
amount of mould,” says
Brearton. “The time fac-
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tor is also very important.
The greater the intensity of
the exposure and the longer
you’re exposed, the worse
the health effects can be. You
don’t build up a tolerance.
In fact the opposite is often
true.”
A mycologist, a mould
expert, can examine a sample
of mould to determine which
strain may be growing in the
building. Some moulds are
more toxic and dangerous
than others. Stachybotrys,
for example, is a particularly invasive greenish-black
mould that can cause a rash
just by touching it.
“It stands out because it
happens to love paper and
cellulose,” says Brearton. “It
thrives in buildings because
more and more we’re using
paper-backed gypsum board
and paper-backed mouldings. I came across it by accident once at a new construction site and I was gently
prying back the moulding
and the wall crumbled in my
hands, like a pretend house.”
The degree of remediation required might be more
or less extreme depending
on whether the affected area
is isolated, and the degree of
PINCHIN ENVIRONMENTAL LTD.
The use of paper-backed drywall can contribute to mould
growth if moisture is present.
mould concentration. But
the recommended remediation is always the same — to
control humidity and repair
water damage and to remove
and clean any visible or concealed mould, regardless of
species.
Brearton says that building codes haven’t been able
to keep up with mould problems, in large part because
they stress energy efficiency.
“We’re finding that, as
buildings become airtight,
mould and moisture problems are moving to areas
where they didn’t appear
before,”
says
Brearton.
“Moisture-laden air is still
finding ways to get into
buildings and the moisture
generated by human occupants is becoming more of a
problem.”
And, although mould
is likely here to stay, Brearton says the response to the
problem is evolving:
• Mould investigation and
remediation are being recognized in insurance settlements, if mould is caused by
a covered peril.
• New mould-resistant construction materials are entering the market. These include
mould-resistant wood, insulation, drywall, drywall tape,
paint, stucco, carpet, caulk
and sealants.
• Mould prevention training
is becoming available to contractors.
• Building officials are
increasingly involving themselves with mould investigations.
• Property managers are
increasingly adopting due
diligence practices, including mould management programs.
“I also think that LEED
is one of the best things
that’s happened to the construction industry in North
America,” says Brearton. “It
forces attention to be placed
on construction materials
and methods and how air
and moisture interact with
the building envelope.”
Partnerships possible as market changes
Continued from Pg. 13
AGS’s Chan sees the Chinese going mainly after larger projects, not small ones
(50,000 to 100,000 square
feet).
Tall towers might typically require 300,000 or more
square feet of curtainwall.
Mark Lawton, building
science specialist with Morrison Hershfield Ltd., says the
company has been retained
on a couple of projects in
Vancouver using panelized
curtainwall from China.
“It is my opinion that the
competiveness of the Asian
suppliers is a game changer
for major building projects
in Canada,” he says, adding
that Canadian developers
have been contacting Chinese fabricators.
Lawton has visited fabrication plants in China,
including Yuanda Aluminium Industry Engineering
Co., Ltd, based in Shenyang.
The company supplies curtainwall for mega-buck projects around the world. Its
expansive operations include
four engineering groups,
each specializing in a region
in the world.
“The size of their operation is scary.”
Lawton says the changing
tide follows another shift:
nearly all aluminum extru-
ADVANCED GLAZING SYSTEMS LTD.
Advanced Glazing Systems designed and managed the curtainwall component of Jameson House in Vancouver, but the glazed panels were manufactured in China.
sions for curtainwall are now
made in Asia, typically China
or South Korea.
To maintain its market
segment, Canadian curtainwall fabricators will have to
keep a tight control on budgets and provide “excellent
customer service,” points out
Chan.
The changing market
could bring other opportunities, such as partnerships
with Chinese manufacturers
in which Canadian companies like AGS design the curtainwall while the Chinese
fabricate it, Chan says, adding AGS and other Canadian fabricators have already
started working with Chinese firms.
“Basically, it means we
manage design and engineer
the project and they manufacture it.”
Lawton says a day could
come when all curtainwall is
made in Asia but it’s difficult
to predict what will happen
in the next few years. A jump
in fuel costs could hike the
cost of shipping curtainwall
from Asia.
“Right now though, the
supply of the major materials for metal or glass curtainwalls from offshore is kind of
the norm.”
Daily Commercial News October 15, 2010
Page 15
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Daily Commercial News October 15, 2010
Building Envelope Solutions
From Coast to Coast
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Museum of Nature, Ottawa
Maple Leaf Square Podium, Toronto
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flynn.ca
City Hall Podium Roof, Toronto
MGCS Data Centre, Guelph
D A I L Y
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April 30, 2010
www.dailycommercialnews.com
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Page BE-2
Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Building Envelope
Heritage Building
Revitalization seeks to recapture original vision
It’s out with the “goldy” and in
with the bronze-tinted glass
DAN O’REILLY
correspondent
A
massive renewal of
one of Toronto’s oldest office towers is
designed to bring the building up to modern day energy
efficient and sustainability performance standards
while respecting its heritage
character.
As part of a $110-million
revitalization of the former
Royal Trust Tower, construction manager PCL Construc-
tors Canada is removing all
the single pane windows in
the 42- storey building and
replacing them with double
panes. The project is expected to take until May 2011.
Now known as 77 King
Street and one of six skyscrapers comprising the TD Centre, the tower is a designated
structure under the Ontario
Heritage Act and envelope or
exterior improvements cannot impinge on its heritage
elements, says Tônu Altosaar,
senior partner, B+H Architects.
The revitalization will, in
fact, recapture the original
vision of Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe, the design architect. Several years after the
tower was built in 1969 a
‘goldy’ screen film was added
to the windows and that has
seriously impacted the aesthetic look, he says.
“Now the building is
being rejuvenated to the former (heritage) intent,” says
Altosaar, referring to the new
windows’ bronze tint which
is more in keeping with the
original concept.
Apart from aesthetics, the
project is targeted at achieving LEED EBOM standards.
The new double pane low-e
Argon filled insulated glass
units will work in conjunction with new manual roller
blades to provide a complete
energy efficient system, he
says.
The window replacement
is actually the first phase of a
much broader revitalization
which encompasses main
lobby restorations, infrastructure
improvements
and mechanical upgrades. A
prime example of the latter is
the replacement of the floor
Economic Snapshot
Even after the Olympics, B.C.’s
economy is still going for gold
These increases offset weakness in foreign sales
Although it has lost the heat of the Olympic
of machinery/equipment and energy products.
torch, British Columbia’s economic engine is still
gaining momentum.
Although the effects of government fiscal stimulus will steadily dissipate over the next four quarters,
Year-over-year employment growth in March
was faster than it has been since August 2008.
a steady pickup in lumber exports – driven by strong
Moreover, although the province’s unemployU.S. housing demand – should underpin growth of
ment rate moved up slightly, from 7.7% to 7.9% in
full-time employment.
March, it is well below the recent (December 2009)
The outlook for residential construction should
JOHN CLINKARD
high of 8.3%.
be supported in the short term by a surge in home
The pattern of employment growth over the past
sales to purchasers wanting to buy ahead of the
year suggests that B.C.’s growth has primarily been
introduction of the harmonized sales tax on July 1.
the result of increased domestic demand, driven in large part
Over the longer term, residential construction should
by increased monetary and fiscal stimulus.
benefit from positive net migration and stronger growth of
Across industrial sectors, employment in education serfull-time employment.
vices is up by 9.5% year over year, followed by public adminMajor projects that should support non-residential conistration (+11.5%), wholesale and retail trade (+7.4%) and
struction spending over the remainder of 2010 and into
construction (+5.8%).
2011 include the Lower Mainland transmission line expanGrowth in B.C. has to date relied primarily on domestic
sion, the Roberts Bank rail corridor improvement, the Unidemand. However, there is now evidence that the economy is
versity of British Columbia pharmaceutical science building,
starting to benefit from stronger external demand.
and the Ritz-Carlton hotel and residential development.♦
In February, B.C. exports increased for the fifth consecutive month, due to increased foreign sales of agriculture and
John Clinkard has over 30 years’ experience as an economist in international,
fishing products, industrial materials and, most important,
national and regional research and analysis with leading financial institutions
exports of lumber products.
and media outlets in Canada.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth – British Columbia vs total Canada
Per cent change year over year
Gross Domestic Product - British Columbia vs Canada
British Columbia GDP growth
6%
5%
Forecasts
Total Canada
GDP growth
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
-1%
-2%
-3%
-4%
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Year
Data Source: Statistics Canada, Forecast - CanaData/Chart: Reed Construction Data, CanaData
Data source (actuals): Statistics Canada.
Forecasts and chart: Reed Construction Data – CanaData.
©2010 CanaData. All rights reserved.
Vol. 8, Issue 34
PCL CONSTRUCTORS LTD
The Royal Trust Tower, part of the TD Centre, is a designated structure under the Ontario Heritage Act and envelope
or exterior improvements cannot impinge on its heritage
elements.
induction units with new
ones which will be mounted
within the ceiling space on
16 floors.
“This will add approximately 1,300 square feet of
useable space per floor or
527,000 square feet when the
entire tower is completed,”
says Altosaar.
For now, though, the focus
is the window installation.
That is being accomplished
in a bottom-to-top sequence
with the existing windows
removed from the inside,
says PCL project manager
Matt Stainton.
The first 14 storeys were
vacant when the work started just after Christmas.
But the second to seven
floors had to be completed
by April 1st which was the
date a single-use tenant took
possession, says Stainton.
“On the unoccupied
space we have been averaging about four days to complete a floor.”
But that timetable and the
dynamics of the project will
change significantly when
the installers reach the occupied floors.
Notices have to be sent
to the tenants three weeks,
five days and again two days
prior to work commencement in those areas which
has to be done at night to
minimize disruption to the
occupants, he says.
“We will be starting at 6
p.m. and have to out of the
offices by 6 a.m.”
And as work proceeds
higher and higher, the timetable could be altered if high
winds make the outside scaffolding work too dangerous,
he says.
Another unpredictable
factor is the impact of the
G20 Summit, June 26-27
at the nearby Metro Convention Centrewhich may
impede worker access and
material delivery: “We may
have to shut down work for
a week.”
The revitalization was
partially sparked by the corporate relocation of RBC,
a significant tenant, to the
new RBC Centre, says Steven
Sorensen, vice president of
property management with
Cadillac Fairview, the owner
and property manager.
“But it’s also part of our
commitment to ensure that
77 King Street remains at
the forefront of corporate
real estate and reinforce its’
long-standing commitment
to sustainability.”
The reinvestment in 77
King Street will enhance tenant comfort and enhance the
overall appeal of the property. Any operational savings, including energy savings will be measured over
time, through its GREEN AT
WORK sustainability program, says Sorensen.
Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Page BE-3
Building Envelope
Retrofit
Toronto landmark gets a 72-storey facelift
Marble facades removed from
Canada’s largest office tower
DAN O’REILLY
correspondent
A
lmost 40 years after it was constructed, the 72-storey,
298-metre-high First Canadian Place office tower
still retains its status as Canada’s largest office tower.
Now it will soon be receiving what is conceivably the largest
recladding in the country.
The approximately 45,000 Italian marble panels that have
highlighted the tower since its construction in 1974 in Toronto’s financial district will be replaced with approximately
375,000-square feet of glass spandrel panels.
Construction manager EllisDon began site work last September in preparation for the recladding which is expected to
start in May and take until the end of 2010 to complete.
Locally based B+H Architects is the Architect of Record
and Design Collaborator. New York City-based Moed de
Armas & Shannon Architects is the design architect. Halcrow
Yolles is the structural engineer and Brook Van Dalen is the
engineering consultant.
Developed by Olympia and York and named for Canada’s
first bank, the Bank of Montreal, the skyscraper has been a
Toronto landmark since it was built.
“But the marble was starting to fail and it was getting quite
dirty,” says B+H project senior associate Kevin Stelzer.
That was the catalyst for the building’s co-owner and
property manager Brookfield Properties to look for ways to
transform the building. But that was not an easy process.
The new white fritted glass curtain wall is the culmination
of a year of design work and lengthy approvals by Brookfield
and its partners, says Stelzer.
The seven-foot by 10-foot glass modules are comprised of
three layers of glass with a ceramic frit pattern on the first
layer, which is designed to project a luminous white texture.
“It’s a really simple design.”
For EllisDon the project has and is a logistical challenge.
The base of its operations is the tower’s podium roof where
a number of site modules were lifted into place by a 500-ton
crane, says project manager Mike Fitzgibbon.
The project is basically a three-step process with the glass
spandrels lifted from busy Adelaide Street to the podium roof
by a man material host. From there the spandrels and other
material will be transported by carts along a roof protection
system to two other men material hoists—one on the west
side and another one on the east side of the building.
After being lifted by the hoists the spandrels will be rolled
on to a three-level suspended elevated platform designed by
New York-based Atlantic Hoisting. The excavated marble will
be stored on the bottom level and then the platform will be
lowered so workers can retrieve the glass panels and install
them on the tower. Clifford Restoration is the subcontractor
for the marble removal, while Sota Glazing is installing the
panels.
“We intend to start at the top floor and gradually work
out way down. All four sides of a floor will completed before
work on the next floor starts,” says Fitzgibbon, who expects
about 80 workers will be on site at any one time.
DAN O’REILLY
A three level suspended platform will be used to remove
and store marble panels while also replacing them with
new glass panels.
Design Challenge
Grande Prairie gallery a building-within-a-building
$10 million project will
preserve the area’s first
all-brick high school
PETER KENTER
correspondent
T
he new Prairie Art Gallery in Grande
Prairie, AB has been designed as a
building-within-a-building to honour
the city’s heritage and the rigorous environmental requirements of a modern art gallery.
The building was designed by Teeple
Architects Inc. of Toronto, the design team
responsible for the Montrose Cultural Centre, which stands directly behind the gallery.
The original gallery was housed inside the
community’s first high school building, constructed in 1929.
“It’s designated a provincial heritage
building because it was the first high school
the community had ever built,” says Martin
Baron, an associate with Teeple Architects.
“It was quite significant for such a small agricultural community of wood frame houses
to invest so much money and effort into a
large brick structure such as this. It’s quite
an unusual achievement for the area and
designed it as though we were treating the
original building as an artifact in a museum,”
says Baron. The province ultimately decided
that this approach would diminish the heritage value of the building.
Another involved repairing the existing
structure and building a direct connection to
the Montrose Centre.
“We couldn’t go through with that option
for various reasons,” says Baron. “One of
the main problems was the floor levels of
the school building didn’t match that of the
Montrose Centre, so it would have required a
major adjustment of floor levels.
The second issue was that the Montrose
Centre was designed using modern building
TEEPLE ARCHITECTS INC. envelope technology and a state-of-the-art
Grande Praries’ first high school is now home to an art gallery. The modified building HVAC system. The gallery had to operate
incorporates a steel frame inside.
year round at a temperature of 21 degrees
shows that the town was looking toward the nificant damage to part of the brick wall.
Celsius and 40 to 50 per cent relative humidfuture.”
“Nothing of the interior survived the 1982 ity whether it was plus or minus 35 degrees
The high school building was gutted in repurposing of the building,” says Baron. “At Celsius outside. The challenges of doing that
1982 and converted into the new Prairie Art this point we were asked to come up with a with the existing building envelope were too
Gallery. The initial plans for the revamped design that would preserve the remaining great.”
gallery involved a seamless connection to the heritage assets and move forward with a new
In addition, local fire codes frowned on
Montrose Cultural Centre. Those plans were gallery.”
the idea of marrying a wood frame structure
cut short in 2007 when unusual snow loads
One option involved the construction of to the steel frame building behind it. The
caused the failure of a glulam beam and a a new curtain wall envelope that would com- approach would have required the construcSee MARRYING, Pg. BE-4
collapse of the building’s roof along with sig- pletely surround the heritage structure. “We
Industrial • Commercial • Institutional • Residential
Specialists in Insulated Concrete Form Construction
• Multi Story • ICF Manufacturer certified
• LEED structures • Union certified
Tel: 905-857-1792
Fax: 905-951-8037
www.elitebuildinggroup.com
sales@elitebuildinggroup.com
Page BE-4
Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Building Envelope
Marrying gallery,
cultural centre
was a challenge
Continued from Pg. BE-3
tion of a significant firewall
between the two buildings,
destroying the original intent
of a seamless transition.
The ultimate decision was
to build a brand new steelframed building within the
framework of the old building. In partnership with heritage consultant
Simpson Roberts Architecture and Interior Design
of Calgary, the architect
devised a plan to gut the interior of the old school building, maintain the existing
masonry walls on the front
and both sides and install a
new steel frame to support
them.
“The open back of the
building connects to the
Montrose centre on all three
levels,” says Baron. “The
bricks harvested from the
back wall were used to repair
the damage caused by the
roof collapse.”
Additional excavation of
about five feet was ordered
to even up the difference in
elevation between the basements in the two buildings.
“We were digging about
10 feet in from the original
walls to minimize the risk of
damage to the original heritage structure,” says Baron.
“Essentially we built a threestorey building—a basement and two storeys—that
reflected the language of the
Montrose
Cultural Centre.
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The new building doubles
the gallery space from about
8,000 square feet to 16,000
square feet.”
The interior of the heritage walls will be sprayed
with four inches of polyurethane foam insulation.
A water-based vapour barrier will be sprayed on top of
the foam before the walls are
finished with a layer of plywood sandwiched between
two layers of drywall.
Plywood is traditionally used in gallery wall construction to anchor hanging
artwork.
“We were lucky that the
1982 renovation spared the
original windows, which we
used in this restoration,” says
Baron.
“On the inside wall, we
used a triple-glazed window
system that filters out 99.6
per cent of ultraviolet light.”
The design creates an
additional gallery space in
the perimeter between the
new and old buildings and
allows light to enter the
building without damaging
the artwork in the central
exhibition space.
While the Montrose Cultural Centre is applying for
LEED Silver status, Baron
says the art gallery is being
built to the same standards
without seeking accreditation.
The $10-million gallery is
scheduled
to open in 2012.
4/16/10 12:09 PM Page 1
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ARCHITECTTURA
Glazed unitized glass panels form the exterior of two walls with one foot building separation creating a climate control
effect and preserving building’s original brick veneer.
Urban Renewal
School revitalizes downtown core
Project merges old
with the new to
create a ‘wow factor’
RON STANG
correspondent
I
WINDSOR
t’s called the MediaPlex. It’s St. Clair
College of Applied Arts and Technology’s new hi-tech journalism
school located right in the centre of
downtown Windsor.
The school is equipped with state of
the art news studios. It brings journalism training from St. Clair’s suburban
campus into the heart of the city.
The building, paid for with more
than $5 million in federal stimulus
money, will help revitalize Windsor’s
core, which has long suffered from too
many vacant storefronts in an often less
than pedestrian-vibrant atmosphere.
More than this the building stands
out as an architectural landmark. In
terms of wow factor there is nothing
quite like it in the city or perhaps anywhere else.
The remarkable fact is that the design
and construction were all done in just
over four months.
Windsor’s innovative architectural
firm Architecttura Inc. Architects came
up with a striking exterior curtain wall.
The state of the art unitized system
accomplishes several functions.
First it gives the glazed opaque and
colourful green glass panels the complex’s aesthetic appeal. Next it allows
the college to merge new with old. The
curtain wall is not melded on to the
original 1950s-era building — formerly home to Windsor’s Salvation Army
headquarters – but attached one foot
away, keeping the original brick veneer
underneath and exposed around the
corners, side and back. Finally, it provides climate control.
“It’s a canvas of expression,” Architecttura’s Dan Amicone said.
The south wall also sports, in huge
Arial font, the name “MediaPlex” on the
south side, and “St. Clair College” on the
east.
At the corner there is a huge
video screen, which currently carries
announcements but will report news
live as the students produce it inside the
building.
“The exterior glazing concept design
is about news and the changing nature
of news throughout the day,” Amicone
said. The architects designed the new
wall just on two building sides.
“We didn’t want to totally wrap the
existing building,” Amicone said. “We
wanted to show some of the history” of
what was a well-known and well-preserved structure in Windsor’s relatively
intimate downtown.
“It’s a canvas
of expression.”
Dan Amicone
Architecttura
Second, the gap allows air flow creating a blanket effect.
“It’s very unique,” for large building design, Amicone said. But the basic
principal is what’s known as “double
skin curtain walls” with two exterior
walls where the space “technically acts
as an insulator.”
Windsor’s Contract Glazers Inc.
(CGI) was the glazing contractor that
assembled each unitized panel from
nine glazed sections, and lifted them
into place on site.
“Installation took only a week and a
half,” Dave Lester from general contractor Amico Design Build, said.“Normally
this would have taken over a month.”
This unitized panel design — consisting of about 20 individual unitized
glass panel sections – also helped the
construction schedule. Work had to be
carried out over winter (federal government rules tied the grant funding
to March 31 completion). If the panels
could be assembled inside and then put
up in a much shorter period it was all
to the good.
The panels were connected by aluminum struts, the same used for the
new interior windows in the partlygutted building.
The accent on hi-tech news presentation extends from the building exterior to inside. A visitor walks into the
main building and is confronted with a
mural of a map of the world. It will be a
backdrop for news anchors who want to
report from that space.
“It’s really to express the vision that
they can broadcast from anywhere,”
Lester said.
Meanwhile a walk up the stairs takes
one to the open concept newsroom, a
cavernous studio with news anchor and
reporting desks, TV cameras, four editing suites, a radio broadcast booth and
an electronic central command booth.
A giant plasma screen will create
an infinity effect of images like a blue
screen behind the presenting news
anchors.
The building has a total 17,000 sq.
ft. and the newsroom was carved out of
the first floor. There are also classrooms,
which can be temporarily divided, on
the floor below. The management system, such as temperature and access,
can be controlled from the main St.
Clair campus.
Amicone and Lester said the major
challenge was coordinating the project
on a tight schedule.
“The construction and design was
going on at the same time,” Lester said.
Meanwhile the design and construction teams worked closely with an advisory group of St. Clair administrators
and journalism teaching staff.
“The key factor was site coordination,” Lester said. With as many as 20
sub-trades the scheduling was extremely tight. “We had two different electrical
contractors in here at the same time, two
different structural steel companies.”
They also installed an elevator. “Even
with this time frame that had to be a
world record,” he laughed.
Daily Commercial
April 30,8/21/09
2010
Stanley_FMXfamilyNews ad_DCN_tab.pdf
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11:26:33 AM
Page BE-5
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Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Building Envelope
Innovation
German firm launches ‘intelligent envelope’ system
Four components work
together to mitigate
interior environment
IAN HARVEY
correspondent
I
n modern building design and construction, every component is getting a
rethink around increased efficiency and
reduced operating costs.
Building envelopes are no exception. The
one size-fits-all approach in today’s era of
green-consciousness doesn’t work anymore
as architects, and indeed owners, look to find
ways to make their structure more efficient
and literally smarter.
And that’s why there’s a buzz around
the German Schüco E2 Façade system that
debuted in Europe last December and is now
making the rounds here in North America.
The design breaks away from the rigid,
centrally controlled HVAC model that has
dominated design over the last 40 years and
instead creates what it calls an “intelligent
building envelope system.”
Instead of trying to control heat gain or
loss and move warm or cold air around the
interior via a central HVAC system, the envelope design is locally adaptive, allowing workers on one side of the building that may be lit
up by late afternoon sun to feel as comfortable as workers on the other side who otherwise might shiver in the shade and wind.
The company claims the system will
reduce heating and cooling energy costs by
50 per cent of the prescribed 2009 German
energy saving regulations and up to 80 per
cent over North American averages.
It achieves this through a series of four
integrated components, chief among them, a
system of high-performance external CTB
sun blinds integrated into the window walls
with small aluminum profiles, concave in the
inside and convex outside.
Photovoltaic solar thin-film technology
is embedded in the safety glass which can
direct energy either back into the building to
power the local HVAC cooling ductwork or
SCHUCO
Above, a fully integrated energy façade: Transparent photovoltaic modules house interconnected solar cells in an insulating glass unit. The grid pattern of the modules can be
adapted for each individual project. Below, system draws warm and cold incoming air
into the room through slotted outlets in the ceiling.
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October’s 2010
Focus
Preservation
Second part of brick study underway
Masonry technology
goes back to school
for energy testing
DAN O’REILLY
correspondent
A
BUILDING
ENVELOPE
C353-10_HOUSE
CONTACT:
Telephone: 1.800.465.6475 ext. 5531
salescanada@reedbusiness.com
to the grid, if prevailing local Feed In Tariff
rates are more attractive.
Also, internal, mobile and opaque insulating panels can be moved into place to cut
heat loss at night and block solar gain during
the day.
Instead of central HVAC control, each
area has its own independent venting system
that can draw air according to users’ needed
for increased heating or cooling.
These technologies combine to rack up
LEED points, including the use of more ambient daylight and recycled content among the
materials.
The concept of an intelligent envelope
allows designers and owners much more
flexibility, more so in an era where long term
tenants are being selective about where they
set up their offices.
Gone are the days of “build and flip” says
Murray Atman, architectural sales advisor
with Schüco Canada Inc.which brought the
E2 system here barely six months ago.
Developers are sticking with their projects
as owners and are acutely aware their prospective tenants are well versed in the common language of sustainability and energy
efficiency.
They also know comfortable offices mean
happier, more productive employees and tenants or prospective buyers are looking for
construction technologies which are in keeping with that current thinking.
“We’re at the point where people are calling us as much as we’re calling them,” says
Altman. “Schüco is new with this, though
we’ve sold curtain components and solar
here for 10 years.”
A lot of initial interest is coming from
Quebec, he says, where the market is more
receptive to European trends, while another
project in San Francisco is closest to being
the first in North America to use the system.
“They’re just about to go to tender so if
all goes well in San Francisco we could be
up in 16 months or so,” says Altman, noting
there are enquiries from both private sector
and public sector projects. The U.S. is slightly
ahead of Canada in demand, he added, and is
why a project will debut there first.
two-part study measuring the
impact of interior insulation on
solid masonry walls may provide some solutions on how to effectively and safely bring Canada’s extensive
inventory of older buildings up to modern day energy efficiency standards.
That inventory is a tremendous
opportunity to reduce our environmental impact if those buildings can be
given renewed life and lessen the need
for new construction, explains James
Wilkinson, project manager for Halsall Associates which is conducting the
study.
He says the size of the opportunity is demonstrated by the increased
application—or at least interest—in
interior insulation/retrofit strategies by
both public and private sector owners
of buildings with solid or load-bearing
masonry walls, says Wilkinson.
“Often these buildings have a heritage or historical significance that precludes work from the exterior. And even
when it’s not a heritage building, many
institutional owners don’t want the original masonry hidden.”
Insulating a masonry building from
the interior, however, presents its own
set of challenges. It may result in accelerated masonry deterioration, corrosion
of the embedded steel, interior plaster
finish deterioration and possibly mould
growth.
That challenge is the basis for the
study which Halsall is conducting at a
Toronto private school. It includes the
use of mock up walls in a classroom,
temperature sensors, the physically
testing of bricks and extrapolated computer generated weather and climatic
conditions.
The institution wants to improve
the energy performance of its buildings
which includes a three-storey school
built in the 1950s where the research is
being conducted.
Common materials used to insulate masonry walls include traditional
fibreglass, open-cell spray-foam insulation and closed cell spray-foam insulation. Each has its own specific risks and
benefits, says Wilkinson.
For this study Halsall focused on the
use of the closed cell spray foam insulation without supplying conditioned air
to any of the wall cavities. Four mock
up walls were constructed on the top
floor of the school and at outside corner facing south and east. The exterior
walls are three wythes thick and the
interior is finished with hollow clay tile
and painted plaster.
The mock ups included two noninsulated and two insulated wall
See MOISTURE, Pg.BE-7
Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Page BE-7
Building Envelope
Industrial Gentrification
Canadian architect revives New York historic site
Former steam-powered
electrical plant is now a
residential condominium
PETER KENTER
correspondent
W
hen CGS Developers and Zigmond Brach of Brooklyn, NY
undertook the historic condominium renovation of a New York City landmark, the intention was to preserve as much
of the structure as possible.
The century-old Penn Station PowerHouse
in Long Island City, Queens, once supplied
steam-generated electrical power to the city’s
Penn Station railroad terminal. Constructed
in 1906 and immortalized by painter Georgia
O’Keefe in Across the East River it was most
recently an abandoned plumbing warehouse.
Canadian architect Karl Fischer, who has
offices in New York City and Montreal, was
commissioned to adapt both the PowerHouse and nearby Schwartz Chemical Factory to multi-residential use.
Fischer initially hoped to preserve the
power plant’s row of 90-metre chimneys by
building a glass box between them but was
thwarted by local zoning and so they were
demolished and replaced with four metaland-glass towers.
“The glass circular shapes are meant to
recall the original large masonry chimneys
that were demolished,” says Fischer. “They
are in the exact location as the original chimneys but in glass and metal so that they can
be used as livable space.”
The 11-storey chimney towers feature
residential units with double-height living
rooms and a Manhattan skyline view.
Construction of the US$170-million project began in 2006 and is scheduled for completion in 2011.
Now known as The PowerHouse Condominiums it was designed to retain as much
character as possible of the original building,
including the window profiles and three of
the original walls.
However, the four new chimneys needed
to be aesthetically tied into the exterior of the
old building but no match could be found for
the existing brick.
Riverside Group of Windsor, Ontario was
awarded the contract for fabricating and
installing 37,000 square feet of 4-mm copper-coloured Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) with fire-resistant core on all
facades including the mechanical bulkheads
and stair towers. The company also supplied
2,500 square feet of the material for the lower
three floors of the elevation courtyard.
“The deadline wasn’t as tough as some
of the condominium projects we’ve completed in the New York City area,” says Stuart
Salonen, Production Manager with Riverside
Group. “But the project accelerated during
the last quarter of the schedule.”
The company manufactured the panels
at its Windsor plant, then packaged them in
Moisture levels checked
Continued from Pg. BE-6
assembles. Nine sensors were installed in each
to calculate temperature, relative humidity
and moisture content at various locations.
Driving rain was measured on the exterior
south and east-facing exterior walls, while
interior temperature and humidity were also
measured at two locations within the test
room.
There were a number of significant findings reached during the first stage of the
study, conducted from Sept. 2007 to the same
period in 2008.
A key discovery was that the insulated
walls demonstrated a low freezethaw deterioration risk when
compared with
the non-insulated
walls. There was,
however, a minor
risk of embedded
metal corrosion.
The
study
also concluded
the bricks were
highly moisture
absorptive and
didn’t meet modern CSA standards for freeze-thaw resistance
performance. In reality, though, the bricks
are functioning properly and haven’t exhibited signs of deterioration, says Wilkinson
“They look okay.”
This first stage study wasn’t considered
conclusive enough because the monitoring
period was marked by a mild winter and lessthan-normal rainfall.
Those limitations were the catalyst for
a follow up second study which started last
September and scheduled to wrap up this
THE METAL INITIATIVE
The old Penn Station Powerhouse once supplied steam-generated electricity to Penn Station and is now a preserved condominium project.
crates before shipping them on flatbed trucks
where they were hoisted by tower crane.
“The most complicated part of the project
was with respect to the fact that there were
some complex shapes that started out from
a flat wall, then went from the flat wall to an
inside corner, then around the chimney towers,” says Salonen. “There were up to four
segments on a single panel, so we had to find
innovative ways to assemble, package and ship
them so that the panels wouldn’t be damaged
in transit by falling into each other.”
The material was shipped both to the
worksite and to installation partner Island
International Industries, Inc., of Calverton,
NY who also manufactured the framing
components for the panels. Island International installed the panels under general contractor CGS Construction of Brooklyn, part
of the umbrella corporation that includes the
developer.
Riverside Group has worked on a series
of high profile architectural cladding contracts across North America on such diverse
projects as Pearson Airport, Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport, a Los Angeles
high school, and the Akron Art Museum in
Ohio. “As a designer and fabricator of these
specialty claddings, we’ve developed relationships with installers all over the continent,”
says Salonen. “Island International is just one
of our many partners.”
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HALSALL ASSOCIATES
Sensors installed in
a masonry wall are
seen at left; above,
an instrumented and
insulated
mock-up
wall awaiting drywall.
May.
If the weather doesn’t co-operate, the Halsall testers will do hydro-thermal modeling,
says Wilkinson.
At this point the institution has not committed to a major retrofit/insulation and the
final conclusions should not be considered as
blanket remedy that can apply to all masonry
buildings.
The study’s methodology can be used as
process to evaluate the pros and cons of interior insulation, he says. “Each project would
have to be done a case by case basis.”
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Page BE-8
Daily Commercial News April 30, 2010
Building Envelope Solutions
From Coast to Coast
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Biovail Corporation, Mississauga
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
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CD Howe, Building, Ottawa
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