Viridian performance glazing was recently incorporated into an adaptive reuse of a 1960s commercial building, to create a 15 floor luxury apartment complex.
The exclusive development features Viridian performance glazing in the expressed concrete frame, and glazed bay windows with curved glazed corners to provide a soft aesthetic transition to the prominent corners of the building.
The soft white and grey palette of exterior colours, along with the shadowing of the freestanding columns and slab edge channel, creates a striking residential building design with contemporary sculptural lines.
Old office buildings typically have deep floor plans that provide limited daylight penetration - a characteristic at odds with modern residential architecture that seeks to exploit natural light to its fullest.
The depth of the existing building and the proximity of neighbouring buildings made it necessary to optimise the outlook and daylight penetration on the north, east and south west frontages by maximising the extent of glazing. To this end, new balcony structures were added to the north and south to provide weather and sun protection to the main glazed facades. Along the east side, balconies were recessed in behind the existing column structure to provide similar protection. The west facing facade was created as a solid wall with punched windows to control the westerly sun exposure and to restrict overlooking from the neighbouring buildings.
The use of external louvres has been limited to areas of the facade where visual concealment is necessary. Instead, performance glazing has been used to manage solar loads, negating the need for more extensive external louvre treatment.
Glazing tints and colours were kept minimal to preserve the colour rendition of the exterior views from the interior and to keep the exterior colour of the building soft and light.
Glass selections for the building were given careful consideration to ensure they met acoustic and energy efficiency requirements. Viridian Architectural Segment Manager (NSW/ACT), Anthony Gunther liaised with the acoustic engineers, Marshall Day Acoustics, and the energy assessor to ensure glass met all of the relevant requirements, as well as the facade engineer to determine the optimal glass choice for the facade design.
The close proximity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge freeway and railway made the glazing’s acoustic performance the prime selection criteria. To meet the acoustic requirements, approximately a third of the glass used in the building incorporated Viridian’s HUSH acoustic interlayer. Specifically developed to dampen noise, the interlayer provides enhanced sound insulation performance. While obviously not the only material to contribute to the building’s superior sound control, glass was a fundamental part of the overall acoustic solution.