Emerald Hills Executive Plaza One (now known as Ganot Plaza), located in Hollywood, Florida, was in desperate need of an overhaul. The 40-year-old building was encased with glass that used an inconsistent film, which struggled to keep sunlight out. In a highly competitive market, the property owner desired an upgrade to improve not only the building’s looks, but its comfort and performance, which resulted in faster leasing rates for the investment.
THE BUILDING: The Ganot Plaza is a 63,342-square-foot, six-story mid-rise office building. To give the building a sleek, modern, contemporary look and feel, the building received a major curtain wall retrofit.
SOLUTION: For this project, there was one clear choice -- energy-efficient VUE-30, one of Viracon’s highest performing coated glass. Working with a 28,000-square-foot curtain wall system, VUE-30 not only transformed the drab 40-year-old Emerald Hills office building into a modern marvel, but enhanced the energy efficiency of the building.
BENEFITS: In today’s tightening energy code environment, designers and developers have been demanding a low-emissivity coating with exceptional performance (a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of less than .20). To meet that need, Viracon developed the VUE line of glass coatings, which offers the opportunity to maximize window-to-wall ratio while maintaining performance that exceeds current domestic energy code requirements. Viracon VUE-30 provides natural daylight while reducing potential glare; balancing light with energy savings and low U-V transmittance. VUE-30 has superior solar performance with a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of .18 and Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) of 31% on clear glass resulting in an LSG of 1.72. VUE-30’s solar performance is complimented by a transparent appearance that designers have been asking for.
THE PLAYERS: Architect, Iraj S. Shojaie; General Contractor, Burke Construction; Curtain Wall Manufacturer and Contractor, Crawford-Tracey Corp.; Glass Fabricator, Viracon Inc.
To learn more, visit viracon.com
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
HQ renovations aim for modern look
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects’ renovations to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New York City headquarters will feature a reworked reception lobby with back-painted glass, silk-screened logos, and a video wall.
| Oct 13, 2010
New health center to focus on education and awareness
Construction is getting pumped up at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, Denver. The four-story, 94,000-sf building will focus on healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 13, 2010
County building aims for the sun, shade
The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.
| Oct 12, 2010
Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 6, 2010
Windows Keep Green Goals in View
The DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has almost 600 window openings, and yet it's targeting LEED Platinum, net-zero energy use, and 50% improvement over ASHRAE 90.1. How the window ‘problem’ is part of the solution.
