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Managing Solar Heat Gain at NZP

Net Zero Plus Electrical Training Institute in City of Commerce, Calif. turned to a sophisticated solution to deal with solar heat gain—electrochromic glazing. Donated by SageGlass, the innovative glazing technology helps the facility manage solar heat gain on the east elevation while maximizing natural light without the need for any kind of manual or automated shading. The Lightzone glazing installed is also used in the main conference room which is extremely helpful in darkening the room for presentations.

Sawtooth Shading

The 55-story 181 Fremont high-rise features a distinct sawtooth patterned façade which dictates that window mullions in the curtainwall angle slightly in against one another, essentially functioning as a shading device. Vitro’s triple-silver-coated Solarban 70XL glass blocks 70% of the sun’s heat energy while enabling 65% of the ambient daylight to pass through.

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Made In The Shade

SolarTrac 4.0 merges predictive algorithms with real-time weather conditions. The software incorporates the sun’s precise position based on date, time, building GPS location and glass façade orientation—and calculates shadows and reflections from surrounding buildings—to automatically raise or lower window shades accordingly.

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Flex Your Façade

Frontside View 381 from Serge Ferrari—as shown here on the FBI regional headquarters car park in San Diego—allows for bio-climatic façades to be re-invented. The mesh membrane can re-invent façades in any color or transparency for new construction, renovation or reuse applications. The open mesh membrane comes in several colors and transparencies to create custom designed façades that help to balance solar heat gain with shading and natural ventilation.

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A Sense of Place

The student center at the University of the District of Columbia has taken to calling the plaza its “front porch,” and it’s easy to see why. It leads to a grand staircase, with steps sized for seating, that heads up to a new quadrangle and the rest of the campus, beyond. Its highlight is the undulating pattern of red and cream Boardwalk Pavers from Whitacre Greer. The dynamic patterning provides easy wayfinding to the student union’s entrance.

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Driven by Data

For the University of Rochester's Goergen Institute of Data Science building KVA Vice Principal J. Frano Violich, FAIA and his team worked with Glen-Gery to develop a 12-in. version of their classic 55-DD brick. The new brick was used for the protruding headers, which were installed, cantilever fashion, to extend 8 in. out from the 4-in. thick brick exterior wall. While Violich says the patterning was easy to adjust, thanks to today’s design software, the installation involved a team of masons with decades of experience.

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Suspended Animation

Kent State University sited its new Center for Architecture & Environmental Design as a bridge between town and gown, on the edge of its campus, adjacent to downtown Kent, Ohio. Aiming for LEED Platinum certification, Weiss/Manfredi’s architects selected brick that was produced locally. And they got their own lessons in how brick is fired and in how its color can shift based on how it’s produced from supplier Belden Brick.

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Landscape Lighting

The Scoop landscape bollard serves as both a hardscape accent and functional pathway luminaire. The IP66-rated fixtures are sealed for protection against high-pressure water jets, making them suitable for use where irrigation systems are in place.

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Rolling Along

Grasspave2, Gravelpave2 and Beachrings 2 from Invisible Structures allow ADA-compliant access for areas typically difficult to access for wheelchair-bound or disabled individuals. Simple but highly effective components, buried just below the surface, plastic cylinders allow the normally uneven surface to provide uniform resistance to walkers, bikers or wheel chairs, meeting ADA standards for public park and recreational facilities.

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Snap to it

A new solution for installing CableRail stainless steel railing infill into composite sleeved or wrapped wood posts, Quick-Connect lag and pivot fittings now work with wood. Easy to use, cable ends simply insert into the fitting, and the embossed Quick-Connect jaws grab and automatically lock in place. No crimping or hard-to-use compression tools are required. The fittings screw directly into the face of a post or wall, which makes them the perfect solution for projects requiring an inside-to-inside connection.