Case Stories

Challenge

In the heart of Manhattan, close to both Central Park and Times Square, 1717 Broadway houses within its 68 floors the tallest hotel in North America. As part of a project to re-design the building, a decorative stainless-steel grille system was selected to wrap around the exterior of the structure, adding a prominent and unique architectural element to the tower. The grille system, designed and manufactured in Japan, would significantly enhance the structure’s aesthetics. 

Due to the unique design of the grille system, the team was challenged to find a custom solution that would both conceal louvers, to be located under the decorative grilles, and ensure efficient airflow and weather protection to the building’s interior.

Solution

The design team turned to CS for a custom solution – and CS was up for the challenge. They developed a louver that would work with the decorative grilles and tested the customized product in their in-house test chamber, which is accredited by the Air Movement and Control Association, a well-known industry organization. Knowing exactly how a louver will perform is critical to ensuring that it will stand up to real-life conditions on the job. With quality air and water performance results in hand, the design and architectural teams were at ease knowing exactly how the system would perform.

In conjunction with Permasteelisa North America, CS helped to install its custom vertical Storm-Resistant Louvers that surpass traditional airflow design conventions without sacrificing performance.