RPC

Rob Pelletier Construction, Inc. Houston Texas

Nueva School

The Vision

Learn by doing, learn by care is the driving force behind the culture of the Nueva School. The private school, founded in 1967, develops and nurtures gifted children to maximize their potential. They engage students using project-based and social-emotional learning, tailored the needs of each student.

Nueva School started as a pre-K through middle school and in 2014 expanded to a second campus to house its high school program. The new campus in San Mateo provided the opportunity to approach secondary education with a greater connection to community. According to the school’s website, the San Mateo campus was, “designed to use 65% less energy than a typical high school,” and a “transit-oriented campus . . . conceived as a ‘living laboratory’ that will inspire . . .”

The architectural design of the San Mateo campus incorporated many custom sunshade products that provided functional thermal reduction while captivating the attention of all who see it.

The Airolite Look…

The design of sun control products from Airolite emphasizes reducing heat transfer while still permitting natural lighting. The sun control products for the Nueva School all were custom designed and included origami-shaped sunscreens for smaller windows and sun shades having dimensions up to 25’ 4” wide by 27’ 4”. A critical requirement for the large sun shades was the ability to install easily. Airolite products are designed for easy installation; however the sheer size of the sun shades demanded additional engineering to minimize the labor needed for field installation. Working with the contractors, Airolite engineers developed a plan to build and deliver the larger sun shades in several sections instead of assembling individual pieces on-site. This planning resulted in field labor savings of more than 50%.

Attaching the larger sun shades to the building also required a non-standard approach to ensure these products could stand up to the point load and wind loads. In place of traditional methods, engineers developed a process to attach the sun shades using brackets that went into the wall structure prior to the window system. The brackets attached to steel plates providing the necessary support to hold each sun shade in place.

Aesthetics also were important to the project. Architects and school leaders wanted to stimulate the young minds of the students, making it important that every aspect of the facility achieved this goal. All Airolite sun control products attached to the Nueva School had to match exact primary and secondary colors specified.

That Works

The San Mateo campus of the Nueva School opened in 2014 as a non-traditional approach to secondary education. The campus achieved LEED Gold certification, meeting its goal of using up to 65% less energy.

Airolite custom sun control products assisted in helping the school achieve its LEED certification. The sun shades prevented heat transfer from sun glare yet allowed light and air from San Francisco Bay to flow in the windows unobstructed. Airolite offers custom solutions regardless of the size of the product required.

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Living Learning Community

The Vision
The University of Nevada, Reno completed construction of a new five-story, 124,000-square-foot Living Learning Community building in June 2012 to accommodate up to 320 students. Living learning communities are designed to integrate student learning with on-campus residential living, helping students make connections and develop friendships with those who have similar academic interests. Students are assigned to the same floor in the residence hall, take one or more core courses in the building and actively participate in their floor communities. The University of Nevada, Reno, currently offers nine distinctive Living Learning Communities within the building focused on journalism, business, Women in Science and Engineering, education, pre-nursing, engineering, art and honors. The accommodations in the building are suite-style with three different configurations housing four, five, or six students per suite.

The Airolite Look…
livinglearning-2.jpgThe new Nevada Living Learning Community is the first of its kind on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. This innovative structure and striking design were intended to serve as a recruiting tool and make a dramatic statement about the University’s commitment to sustainable and contemporary architectural design. The environmentally sensitive design included many features that helped the building earn LEED Silver Certification.

The architect and building owner wanted to maximize outdoor views and daylight in the common areas where students gather to enhance the living experience while reducing solar heat gain.

Eighty-two sections of Airolite vertical rectangulartube sun contols and horizontal airfoil sun controls were installed on the front façade/atrium area with a southern exposure to provide a unique and aesthetically pleasing solution to daylighting and energy control objectives. Another section of sun controls was installed on the building’s West-facing elevation overlooking an outdoor courtyard area. All the sun controls as well as nine sections of Airolite Drainable Louvers (Model K6774) were finished with a custom, color match two-coat gold Kynar 500® resin coating selected by the architect to match window and curtainwall systems while complementing the red and gold tones in the exterior brick work.

That Works
livinglearning-3.jpg

Custom sun controls were strategically placed horizontally on several elevations to allow abundant views from the interior. The vertical sun controls were installed between the curtainwall systems’ deep decorative caps. All product was finished with a custom, color match two-coat gold Kynar 500® resin coating.

The Airolite louvers, Model K6774, can achieve high volume air flow while providing superior resistance to water penetration. Drainable louvers are fabricated with gutters at the front edge of each blade to prevent water droplets from dropping onto lower blades and entering the intake air flow.

Architect Peter Grove of Collaborative Design Studio was very pleased with the look and functionality of the Airolite louvers and sun controls. He stated, “The nice clean lines, style and depth of shades provide the look and daylight desired while also reducing solar heat gain.”

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MIAMI BEACH CITY HALL PARKING GARAGE

The Vision

This seven-story City Hall Parking Garage in Miami Beach, Florida was completed in 2009 as the final addition to the city’s Civic Center Campus. It poses a stunning architectural statement while serving as a gateway to the city’s historic Art Deco district. The 300,000 square foot facility includes 38,550 square feet of office space and connects to the city hall administration building via a pedestrian bridge. The garage also provides event parking for the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center and Lincoln Road Mall commercial center.

 

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.

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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.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL CAMPUS

The Airolite Look…

The new clinical building consists of two towers, each 12 stories high, that join together at the eighth floor. Although no louvers are visible from the south-facing front entrance of the building, the sides and rear of the facility contain over 21,000 square feet of louvers. In total, over $1.5 million dollars worth of louvers were installed. Most of the louvers form a continuous sweeping span around the sixth floor. The sixth floor louver wall periodically rises up into the seventh floor and gently draws one’s attention skyward toward the eighth floor where the twin towers come together. Airolite storm class louvers (Type SCH7), extruded aluminum stationary louvers (Type CB609) and (Type K 609) and extruded aluminum drainable louvers (CB638HP) were painted with a custom color-match Kynar® pearlescent pewter coating to match other aluminum materials in the building. The sleek, clean lines of the louver walls with concealed vertical mullions complement the building’s impressive modern look. Six to seven inch louver blade depths add further interest to the building’s exterior design.

That Works

In addition to looking great, the Airolite louvers designed for this building provide much needed intake air and exhaust ventilation while minimizing or preventing water penetration. The building’s location on the East Coast makes it vulnerable to occasional hurricanes and high winds blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. Water penetration was minimized at reasonable cost by using a combination of Airolite storm class, stationary and drainable louvers.

Airolite’s Type SCH7 is a storm class combination louver designed and rated to provide high volume intake and exhaust ventilation and the greatest level of protection against water penetration. It was used on parts of the building with the greatest exposure to severe wind and rain off the coast. Airolite’s extruded aluminum stationary louvers (Type K609/CB609) are designed for applications that require intake and exhaust ventilation with moderate protection against water penetration and were used in less vulnerable locations. Extruded aluminum drainable louvers (CB638HP) are drainable louvers designed to provide high volume air flow and resistance to water penetration. The louver incorporates a drainable head-frame to prevent water from cascading from shear-walls onto the louver assembly and becoming entrained in the intake air flow. In addition to the louver walls, Airolite provided penthouses with louvers to protect equipment on top of the building.

Dan Higdon, ISEC, Inc. supervised installation of the Airolite louvers and was very pleased with the staged delivery that took place over one year. “They pretty much came on schedule,” he said. “At one point, they were coming faster than we could install them.”

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.