August « 2009 « Circle Redmont Newsroom

Circle Redmont projects showcase our ability to do what others can’t.

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Dakota Apartments Profile
project profile information coming soon

Ogden Museum Profile
The buildings of the new Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, comprise one of the most architecturally significant complexes in the South. It involves the bold modern statement of the newly-built Stephen Goldring Hall which features the stunning glass block wall fabricated by Circle Redmont.

The Ogden Museum’s multi-year preservation and construction is one of New Orleans’ major urban projects, adding significantly to the city’s plan for marketing itself as a “New New Orleans,” reflecting renewed urban development and marketing the city as a major cultural destination. The project has helped to rejuvenate the Warehouse District and completes the neighborhood’s transformation, reflecting the importance of cultural tourism in New Orleans and in cities throughout the United States.

Local New Orleans architects from the award-winning firm of Errol Barron/Michael Toups are responsible, working with Concordia APC, designed Stephen Goldring Hall. Errol Barron/Michael Toups is known for their designs of religious, institutional, educational and business facilities, and for their expertise in the review of historical landmarks and designs.

Stephen Goldring Hall reflects the distinctive architecture of the city’s Warehouse district. The challenge in designing such a structure was many-fold. First was the need to unite the new with the old, with the exterior of Goldring Hall complementing that of the historic Library. Rather than imitating what was present in the Library’s design and construction, the architects mined the structure for its principles of geometry, including composition and organization.

Goldring Hall is based on that geometry, as well as on a host of other distinct challenges which includes assuring that a building of its size fit in with the surrounding buildings in this historic district. The building stands as a simple box that reaches all the way to the street, softened by positioning the main entrance back from the sidewalk in a courtyard setting, creating an effect of a grand Southern front porch. Stephen Goldring Hall recalls the historical significance of the Library in its use of sandstone and granite on the exterior to emulate the century-old sandstone and granite foundation of the Library. The color of Goldring Hall’s upper floors, and the building’s height - five stories - was selected to relate with the tones and scope of the surrounding structures, including the Contemporary Arts Center, its neighbor across the street.

The inclusion of block-glass walls that form the remainder of the facade’s exterior, as it took shape, forged an unexpected surprise in terms of color and form. “Its relationship to the color of the sky ties it wonderfully into the background,” explains Barron. “Additionally, as it dematerializes at its corner it lends a fairly delicate edge, yet has an inherent strength in character and structure,” says Barron.

What Barron appreciates most, though, is the structure’s effect in terms of interior and exterior light, a direct result of the mass of glass. The galleries were designed to wrap around this constant source of light,” Barron says. “And after dark, the entire building glows, acting as a lantern in throwing a soft light out onto its urban setting.”

In the end, the ultimate challenge for the team of architects was finding a middle ground between a landmark building and a background building appropriate for the neighborhood. The architects wanted Goldring Hall to have an inherent industrial dignity, in keeping with the district of warehouses in the area, straight-forward institutional structures that hold the line of the street. Yet, the challenge was to build a structure worthy of a national museum; straight-forward yet elegant at the same time.

“Museums are high points in our culture,” Barron, himself an artist as well as an architect, continues. “They contain these delicate, fragile objects that speak to our humanity. The definitive challenge then is creating an art museum that is more than a container for art, but a building that is subtle and important in its own right, yet serving as an appropriate backdrop to best showcase a collection of the magnitude of The Ogden Museum of Southern Art.”

As an example of Circle Redmont’s engineering integrity for creating structural superiority, the mass glass block façade suffered no damage during Hurricane Katrina.

ogden

Millenium Towers Profile
The Millennium Park Fountain, a gift to the people of the City of Chicago by the Crown Family, is an interactive masterpiece designed by Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa. The challenge of the project is to structure each of the 50’ high towers without blocking or penetrating a LED video wall directly behind the glass bricks. The walls of the towers are made of custom, hand-poured glass bricks caulked into a stainless steel grid. The top of the tower incorporates a concealed trough regulating the flow of water down the face of the glass bricks. The water trough, roof and LED are all supported by structural frames, which are independent of the glass brick skin allowing for expansion and contraction of the tower. The simplicity of this structure allows the water and the projected video faces to be the focus of the fountain. Prefabricated glass brick wall panels were designed, engineered and built at Circle Redmont’s facility and then erected at the job site under Circle Redmont supervision. Today, the Millennium Fountain Towers in Chicago stand as a staggering example of American ingenuity and engineering.

New York Transit Authority Profile
project profile information coming soon

University of Kentucky Profile
project profile information coming soon

Dane County Profile
project profile information coming soon

Memphis / Shelby County Library Profile
project profile information coming soon

Henry Cotton Profile
project profile information coming soon

Abercromber & Fitch Profile
project profile information coming soon

Melbourne City Hall Profile
project profile information coming soon

Maplewood Police Dept. & Court Building Profile
This building was the first LEED-certified government building in the state of New Jersey, achieving the prestigious LEED Silver Level. Circle Redmont’s glass panel systems allowed daylight to shine into the basement and fitness center of the building helping the architect and builder to satisfy the LEED daylighting credit. The beautiful terrazzo flooring in the lobby was poured around the Circle Redmont glass panels per our instructions in the project’s specs and details stage.

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Circle Redmont is working with ASTM to update block standards.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Because Circle Redmont has had the highest, self-imposed quality standards for decades, the CR spec exists as an example to the building industry to adapt and deploy. Unfortunately, only Circle Redmont has been able to comply with this high standard. We have the level expertise, craftsmanship, technology and dedication that no one else seems to be able to reach.

To bring the rest of the industry even close to the CR spec, Fred Sandor of Circle Redmont has been a compelling force on the ASTM committee charged with developing and updating glass testing standards. ASTM International, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world-a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services. Known for their high technical quality and market relevancy, ASTM International standards have an important role in the information infrastructure that guides design, manufacturing and trade in the global economy.

Laminated glass is often used in glass structures. Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of breaking, it is glazed or held in place by an interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), between its two or more layers of glass. The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when broken, and its high strength prevents the glass from breaking up into large sharp pieces. This produces a characteristic “spider web” cracking pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce the glass.

Laminated glass is normally used when there is a possibility of human impact or where the glass could fall if shattered. Skylight glazing and automobile windshields typically use laminated glass. In geographical areas requiring hurricane-resistant construction, laminated glass is often used in exterior storefronts, curtainwalls and windows. The PVB interlayer also gives the glass a much higher sound insulation rating, due to the damping effect, and also blocks 99% of transmitted UV light.

Laminated glass is produced by bonding two or more layers of ordinary annealed glass together with a plastic interlayer, usually Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB). The PVB is sandwiched by the glass which is passed through rollers to expel any air pockets and form the initial bond then heated to around 70 °C in a pressurized oil bath. The tint at the top of some car windshields is in the PVB.

Multiple laminates and thicker glass increases the strength. Bulletproof glass is often made of several float glass, toughened glass and Perspex panels, and can be as thick as 100 mm. A similar glass is often used in airliners on the front windows, often three sheets of 6 mm toughened glass with thick PVB between them.

Toughened glass is made from annealed glass via a thermal tempering process. The glass is placed onto a roller table, taking it through a furnace that heats it above its annealing point of about 720 °C. The glass is then rapidly cooled with forced air drafts while the inner portion remains free to flow for a short time.

An alternative chemical process involves forcing a surface layer of glass at least 0.1mm thick into compression by ion exchange of the sodium ions in the glass surface with the 30% larger potassium ions, by immersion of the glass into a bath of molten potassium nitrate. Chemical toughening results in increased toughness compared with thermal toughening, and can be applied to glass objects of complex shape.

The term ‘toughened glass’ is generally used to describe fully tempered glass but is sometimes used to describe heat strengthened glass as both types undergo a thermal ‘toughening’ process.

There are two main types of heat-treated glass, heat strengthened and fully tempered. Heat strengthened glass is twice as strong as annealed glass while fully tempered glass is typically four to six times the strength of annealed glass and withstands heating in microwave ovens. The difference is the residual stress in the edge and glass surface. Fully tempered glass in the US is generally above 65 MPa while Heat Strengthened glass is between 40 and 55 MPa.

It is important to note that while the strength of the glass does not change the deflection, being stronger means that it can deflect more before breaking. Annealed glass deflects less than tempered glass under the same load, all else being equal.

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Circle Redmont projects showcase our ability to do what others can’t.

Circle Redmont is working with ASTM to update block standards.

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