RPC

Rob Pelletier Construction, Inc. Houston Texas

DONALD M. PAYNE, SR., SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY

The Vision

The construction of the Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology brought a new level in career technical education to Newark, New Jersey. Named for the late educator and congressman, the school offers students classes that serve as steppingstones to programs offered by local colleges and universities.
More than 1,100 students attend the school. Its three-story footprint is 320,000 square feet and holds 58 traditional classrooms and 30 larger spaces for specialized programs including the building trades. Students can choose from a wide variety of technical programs that include music production, cyber security, culinary arts, forensic sciences, green energy, and cosmetology.
The facility’s size required several rooftop air handling units to meet the ventilation needs. Wanting to maintain
a clean look for the rooftop, specifications called for using louver screens to hide the equipment from view. The contractor selected Airolite’s inverted blade louver screen, model ENCB609 to hide the equipment from view and offer an attractive appearance for people looking at the facility.

 

The Airolite Look…

The specifications called for using more than 1,500 linear feet of louver screens to hide the rooftop equipment in more than seven locations on the roof. Airolite’s model ENCB6096 with its horizontal and inverted blades and six-inch depth offered an ideal aesthetic look while ensuring people saw none of the equipment on the roof. Many sections of the louvers had varying height dimensions. The neighborhood around the school also posed a challenge to the setup and installation of the louvers. Fully-assembled louvers in shipment crates were too large to navigate the narrow streets and surrounding property. Contractors asked if the louvers could be delivered in a knocked down (unassembled) form on three separate shipments.
The staggered delivery schedule required coordination between Airolite and the contractors to ensure the louver screens were available when needed. Airolite coordinated the special crating, sequencing and labeling for a smooth and easy install. Since the screens were unassembled, the blades needed to be snapped in place on the louver “tree,” long brackets on which the blades are attached. This assembly required precise placement to maintain the continuous straight lines created by the louver blades. The contractor used a laser to ensure the lines of the louver blades were straight.

 

That Works 

Airolite louver screen ENCB6096 is a versatile, horizontal and inverted blade louver screen that functions extremely well as a sight and security barrier. Its inverted blades help deflect sound upward and away from the surrounding neighborhood, keeping rooftop equipment noise to a minimum.

The completion of the Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology was on time and under budget. Several factors contributed. Many cited Airolite’s ability to work with contractors and deliver the louver screen in the knockdown form. The well-marked, knockdown crating allowed for on-time delivery and easy assembly without overwhelming the assembly area because of narrow streets and limited space. Others mentioned the long spans of the screen.  They remarked how it not only hid rooftop equipment but added to the sleek design of the building.

Mammoet USA South, Inc.

A global company headquartered in Schiedam, the Netherlands, Mammoet serves petrochemical, mining, power generation, natural resource development, civil and marine industries worldwide with tailor-made heavy lifting and transportation solutions for onshore or offshore. Structural elements are exposed and finished in Mammoet’s brilliant corporate red signature color to match the company’s logo; metal wall panels demonstrate bold, continuous, horizontal, ribbed profiles that are finished in a reflective metallic gray color; and, each window frame is painted white to enhance recognition and visibility. The design team chose a canted wall design to reflect Mammoet’s commitment to innovation. Like each of the structural elements in the envelope, Airolite’s load-bearing outrigger elements incorporated in the cantilevered Airolite sun controls are painted Mammoet red to emphasize their structural contribution and complement the color of the corporate logo. The metallic gray bar blades, configured in a progression from 10-1/2-inches to 4-5/8-inch wide members, and round fascia elements in the sun controls pose yet more linear horizontal sightlines and complement the color and profile of the metal panels.

Click here to learn more 

Guildford Town Centre Expansion, Phase II

Owned and managed by Ivanhoé Cambridge, Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, British Columbia was built in 1966 and has undergone multiple expansions and renovations since then. The second phase of a five year expansion, one of the largest shopping center redevelopment projects in Canada, was completed in August, 2013 and added a dramatic new entrance, a complete refurbishment of the interior and 213,000 more square feet of retail space for 70 additional retailers and a new Food Court.

Today, Guildford Town Centre offers over 1,200,000 square feet of leasable area with over 250 stores and restaurants. Airolite architectural louvers are featured prominently on top of the rotunda over the new entrance to the mall.

Click here to keep reading. 

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HOSPITAL

The Vision

On February 2, 2004, the University of Colorado Hospital opened the beautiful new Anschutz Cancer Pavilion on the new Fitzsimons Campus located in Aurora, Colorado. Physicians, employees and patients participated in the design of the state-of- the-art $148.8 million hospital, helping the architects achieve a functional, efficient building with spectacular views of the nearby Rocky Mountains. An important sustainability goal was to maximize the use of natural daylight, while using energy efficient controls to turn-off light fixtures in corridors and exterior areas during bright daylight hours. The reliance on natural daylight resulted in the design team’s need to control glare and heat transmitted through glazing and window systems.

The Airolite Look…

A massive curvilinear window system frames the western view of the mountains from the ambulatory care center. This ten-foot high wall of glass paints a constantly evolving image of the changing seasons evidenced in the roof garden and the majestic Rocky Mountain backdrop. At the same time, this large expanse of glass poses monumental challenges for maintaining energy efficiency. The height of the glass wall dictated a monumental horizontal sun control projection of more than eight and one-half feet to shade the windows to inhibit thermal heat transmittance and glare during peak daylight hours.

A complimentary sun control design with a comparatively modest maximum 4′-0″ projection is utilized over windows in patient rooms located in the south-facing wall to support operation of the patient-operated environmental controls. A special fascia element maintains continuity of the horizontal linear configuration across the red masonry façade.

That Works

Notwithstanding the use of extruded aluminum elements to reduce the weight of the eight and one-half foot sun control assemblies, the extended projection resulted in significant moment forces transferred to the structure by the sun controls. This problem was addressed by departing from the window supplier’s standard frame, which was not designed to accommodate the substantial moment forces transferred by the sun control outrigger. Instead, a horizontal steel member was incorporated in the exterior wall design to address the loads transferred by the sun controls. The sun control outriggers are secured to the steel member with brackets which project through painted aluminum cladding. In addition, the maximum wind design forces required the use of diagonal stainless steel support rods to mitigate the moment forces transferred to the steel member located in the exterior wall design.

The designer elected to utilize vertical extruded aluminum tubes spaced six-inches on center to achieve crisp, uniform, and sharply defined sight lines for the sun control infill. The close center spacing of the vertical tube blades yield a sun cut-off angle that prevents sunlight from passing between the blades except at its maximum height. The hollow shape dissipates heat easily and is a rigid member that can accommodate the 5′-0″ maximum span without difficulty. To alleviate the costly and cumbersome task of fabricating each tube blade to the constantly changing radius, the factory-assembled sun control sections were designed to be segmented about the curvilinear window configuration.

Surprisingly, only the fascia element is radiused to lend the perception that the entire sun control system is comprised of a series of non-linear segments. Lastly, selection of a white fluoropolymer coating enhances the sun control’s capacity to deflect sunlight, head and glare from the windows below and through windows located above the sun control to enable diffused daylight to be projected across interior spaces.

Click here to learn more.

Rain Resistant Louvers

Test Method for High Velocity Wind-Driven
Rain Resistant Louvers

Did you know that, if located in the Hurricane-Prone Region, all intake and exhaust louvers must comply with AMCA 550 (Test Method for High Velocity Wind Driven Rain Resistant Louvers) per the International Mechanical Code versions 2012 and 2015? The AMCA 550 test standard simulates external wind speeds up to 110 MPH with an external rainfall rate of 8.8 in. per hour. To pass AMCA 550, no more than 1% of the total sprayed water volume may penetrate the louver. If your state has adopted International Building Code 2012 or 2015, now is the time to ensure that all intake and exhaust louver specifications call for an AMCA 550 Listed louver, if located in the Hurricane-Prone Region.

Airolite offers a complete line of AMCA 550 listed louvers, ranging from high performance vertical blade products, dual-module horizontal front/vertical rear louvers and combination louver-dampers that will not only meet the function required, but the form desired.

Click here to view and download a list of Hurricane-Prone Region Louver Products.

Louvers

Louvers with Glazing Adapters

The design of glazing systems with louver infill has become a very popular design choice by architects. Airolite has the ability and flexibility to work within this design request by offering a louver infill with a glazing adapter that allows the louver to be installed directly into the glazing system. There are many different types of glazing systems, and the glazing adapters do not necessarily work with them all. Airolite is happy to promptly review your project details to verify they will work and make the best recommendation for your specific application.

Click this link to view and download a chart of options.