Shelter from the Storm
Through the Storm in Style
While certified window units require glass and frames that have surpassed requirements for high-velocity hurricane zones, leading manufacturers can not only deliver products that perform, but products that perform in style. Depending on the manufacturer, all styles and configurations of window may be available for selection, making protection from tropical storms no harder than any other building project, without compromising aesthetics.
CASE STUDY: THE CIGAR FACTORY, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
Photo courtesy of Graham Architectural Products
The Cigar Factory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its status and national park requirements made selecting hurricane-resistant products a challenge.
The manufacturer’s task: After the halt of a 2004 renovation effort to convert this historic building into high-end residential condominiums, in 2014, a new group purchased the abandoned structure with an eye toward offering a mix of commercial uses, including offices, restaurants, event space, and retail. But with the owners seeking tax credits, National Park Service (NPS) approvals become a key challenge—a challenge made more difficult by the enormous window openings and a regional code calling for hurricane-resistant windows.
The result: Built in 1881 as a cotton mill, the five-story, 244,000-square-foot structure was converted into a factory for the American Tobacco Company in the early 1900s. The building bore witness to a strike of 1,200 mostly black workers in 1945—a strike considered by many to have begun the civil rights movement in America. With its storied past, the building is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the few remaining Victorian-era industrial buildings in Charleston and for its key role in the region’s textile and tobacco industries.
Stevens & Wilkinson, architect for the project, dove through history via photographs and research to uncover the building’s original radius-top window design. It specified single-hung or double-hung windows with offset upper and lower sashes and wanted to maintain the original openings, at more than 10 feet tall. Matching the jamb sightlines, rail dimensions, and mullion details of the original windows was also desired. Custom interior trim to finish off the window installation and maintain a minimalistic interior design would be necessary.
The large size of the window presented a significant hurricane-impact engineering challenge, beyond certification for use on an historic building.
Nevertheless, through collaboration and a shared vision, the architect was able to deliver a renovated building satisfying the latest in hurricane and energy code standards while preserving the structure’s historic vision.
Photo courtesy of Graham Architectural Products
Project: 930 NoMo, Charleston, South Carolina
Developed by Campus Works, one of the largest student housing firms in the Southeast, the construction was self-performed by Campus Works. The project is a six-story private apartment facility geared to college students and within close proximity to several colleges and universities. Bronze and white windows lend detail to the exterior; windows are both fixed and casement style. All windows are hurricane resistant.
Confidence in the Face of Chaos
Hurricane-resistant windows and doors provide life and property protection from hurricanes and typhoons and windborne debris. After the damage and devastation brought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the industry reevaluated its building codes in order to ensure better emergency preparedness. Not only was testing scientifically developed to safeguard window performance during a real storm, but hurricane and wind debris codes were also expanded, encompassing the entire U.S. eastern seaboard. Today, hurricane windows are manufactured to perform under extreme wind loading, negative pressures, and windborne debris impact and cyclic testing.
While the first hurricane-certified units were monolithic rectangles with little aesthetic diversity, designed solely to meet code requirements, with innovations in frame and glazing technology, today, any style, even historical replication, can be achieved and certified. With these advancements, not only can hurricane-resistant windows perform in a storm, they can preserve the historical buildings and design gems they are placed in.
Amanda Voss, MPP, is an author, editor, and policy analyst. Writing for multiple publications, she also serves as the managing editor for Energy Design Update.
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Graham Architectural Products manufactures the most innovative and highest-quality products in the fenestration industry. We achieve this by developing customized, performance-based products and by providing solutions to architects’ fenestration challenges. We earn and retain the architectural community’s trust with our experience, expertise, and collaborative spirit. www.grahamwindows.com |
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