As part of our technology course, we are studying iconic buildings of the modernist period in Manhattan. We must propose a retrofit project to increase their performances. Our analysis will be complemented and verified through virtual model testing of the different traits we might be studying: aerodynamics, day lighting, thermal loads, etc.
Last Thursday, we were granted special access to tour the Javits Convention Center, whose renovation and expansion is being designed by FXFOWLE. The project provides a great example of how an ‘outdated’ building could be updated with new technologies. The Javitz center is New York’s largest venue and is located on the western top of 34th street long the Hudson River.
The immense scale of the Javits Center means that restoration happens in sequences. Sections of the buildings are curtained off for construction while others are active showrooms. It was particularly interesting to see both conditions side by side and really visualize the before and after appearances of the renovation project. The renovation effort’s primary focus was to re-instate the original architecture concept of the project: a very transparent space frame showroom that projects out into the city and engages the passer by. As it was a couple years ago, the Javitz center was covered in a very reflective and dark glass curtain-wall that completely masked the building’s contents. The dark reflective glass had to be used for its performance properties despite it ruining the design concept (transparency) of the building. That was is 1988, the year it opened. Twenty years later, innovations in glass technology can now allow the original architect’s intention to be realized. The new curtain wall is based on the same 10ft by 10 ft structural grid determined by the space frame. However, it replaces the 5ft by 5ft original glass with insulated glass units of 5ft by 10ft. The new glass performs better while being less reflective and more transparent. The renovation efforts led by FXFOWLE also involves an interior spatial reorganization of mechanical system, new interior material and color finishes and new lighting strategies.
