Christian Lewis: Architectural Metal and Glass,
Main Entry, Lobby East and West Interior Walls
Peering upwards toward the heavens the Courtyard Marriott, New York, located on the corner of 54th and Broadway, this 66 story hotel only building seems to touch the sky, it's glass curtain wall reflecting the autumn clouds. As a relative new comer to NYC, I was fortunate to be contracted by the great CNY Builders to perform some of the trickier interior metal and glass work.
Crowned with a striking blue programmable LED display at the last 6 stories hail the night skyline with crawling pictorials Conceived and created by Harry Gross and his G-Holdings this slender building is to date the highest "Hotel Only" facility in the entire Western Hemisphere.
The 54th Street entrance adorned with #316 marine grade Stainless Steel Cladding and topped with a cantilevered Canopy that carries over a ton of 1-1/2" thick laminated and obscured glass that was manufactured by my favorite East Coast custom glass company Eastern Glass Resources.
Below the half circle Interior Illuminated Signage beckons the public into the curvy , leather and glass clad main lobby as viewed below.
Above pictured the West side of the Main Lobby the stacked Reception Desk is placed against a background constructed of a billowed black leather cladding which adds a stark contrast to soften the hard edged Revealed Ceiling evoking a feeling of welcome warmth while maintaining a professional corporate image.
My first task in the Lobby was to design engineer the 15' high by 40' long frosted glass Wall feature at the East wall of the lobby, keeping the staggered glass front aligned with the reveals in the ceiling.
Due to it's massive weight of over two tons this feature fell into the structural discipline requiring stamped/sealed engineering as well as a tube steel structure embedded in the wall behind and the structural floor plates seen below.
Working together with Tony Siffert the Brooklyn Based USS Group Inc. and engineers UrbanTech, I developed these adjustable floor mount plates which could carry a load of up to 3000 lbs each. The process started of course with an accurate lay-out and pilot holes then a 3" core through the marble and mud stopping at the structural slab. The depth of the core ended up averaging around a 3" depth. Next we used the pilot hole to hammer drill a 3/4" hole to a depth of 5-3/8" to accommodate a 5/8", 18-8 stainless steel threaded rod.
Once the rod was epoxied in I added an adjustment nut below the circular 1/2" thick stainless plate which was actually perfectly inlaid into the marble floor. Following that laser leveled the plates with the nut below allowing us to correct the 1/4" defect in the marble floor. The next process with the leveling/support nut set to height, we poured our pour rock to the height of the adjustment nut achieving a perfectly level plain with the mount plates.
The actual Stainless Steel Steel Structure we built to carry the frosted glass was completely custom built with no catalogue parts. The post are 2" o.d. schedule 80 #304 stainless steel strapped together in groups of 4 with 1/2" x 3" stainless plate stock. The posts are all supported at the top by the tube steel structure buried in the back wall which was a whole other project itself. The posts are welded to the Floor Mount Plates that we described in detail above.
Of course this project had a much larger scope that I will post at a later date in parts as this blog is already too lengthy. Stayed tuned for more projects starting with Jarroff Desigm.
Thanks for visiting MetalGraphic !!!
For a free Estimate /Consultation please contact me at 646-226-9563 or at christiansgates@yahoo.com
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