Lecture/Presentation

Re-Skin Or Rebuild: Options For The Aging Curtain Wall

May 23, 2013 6pm - 8pm

• Where: The Mohawk Group 71 West 23rd Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10010
• Hosted by: The Mohawk Group
• Go to event website »

Tens of million square feet of commercial office buildings were built in Manhattan from the 1950s through 1970s, now a segment of the city’s building stock that needs to be overhauled; the question is how best to approach the task. Façade performance is a major component to keeping a building modern, resilient, and desirable for Class A tenancy. Join Urban Green Council in welcoming leaders who work in the high performance building industry as they talk about building resiliency in first generation curtain wall buildings from two standpoints: Re-skin or Rebuild. Bill Browning, Partner at Terrapin Bright Green and an expert in environmental design and real estate development, will begin the discussion by talking about how façade design strategies can contribute to the sustainability of high-rise buildings. Mr. Browning will draw on his experience and from the recently published study “Midcentury (Un)Modern” to compare the relative opportunities of retrofit and replacement for single-glazed curtain wall buildings. Then, Val Lehr, Senior Partner of Lehr Consultants International, and Alberto Franceschet, Engineering Manager at Permasteelisa North America, will discuss the importance of analyzing the whole façade as a system. Using 375 Third Avenue (a midcentury modern glass commercial high-rise in Midtown Manhattan) as a case study, Mr. Franceschet will address façade upgrade challenges specific to this building type, while Mr. Lehr will highlight operational measures for both the re-skinned and rebuilt curtain wall building. MODERATORCatie Ryan | Terrapin Bright Green Catie is a Project Manager at Terrapin Bright Green. She recently completed the “Greening NYC’s Historic Buildings Manual” for the Municipal Art Society of New York. She is also a co-author of “The Economics of Biophilia” and helped facilitate the façade performance charrette for the “Midcentury (Un)Modern” study. Catie is currently the LEED Coordinator on a design team with Bill and Val for a proposed 118-story mixed-use glass tower in Malaysia targeting LEED for Core & Shell Platinum certification. SPEAKERS Bill Browning | Terrapin Bright Green A co-founding Partner at Terrapin Bright Green and primary author of “Midcentury (Un)Modern”, Bill is one of the green building and real estate industry’s foremost thinkers and strategists. With over twenty five years of sustainability experience, Bill has worked on a range of retrofit projects including the Greening of the White House, the Pentagon, the Skanska office in the Empire State Building, and the mid-century modern Monsanto building. As an advocate for smart, creative, and holistic building performance solutions, Bill has coauthored Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate, A Primer on Sustainable Building, Greening the Building and the Bottom Line, Biophilia Design, and “The Economics of Biophilia”. He was a founding member of USGBC’s Board of Directors, and has been named an Honorary member of the AIA and one of five people “Making a Difference” by Buildings magazine. Valentine Lehr | Lehr Consultants International Val is a Senior Partner of Lehr Consultants International and founding Partner of its precursor formed in 1969. He is also a former President of the New York Association of Consulting Engineers, a Fellow of ASHRAE and ASCE, and Member of NSPE, AWWA, ASPE, and ASSE. Val is a recognized industry leader, educator, lecturer, and a published engineer with projects on six continents. Noted for innovation in high-rise construction, hotel design and Master Planning of complex projects, he is also dedicated to environmentally responsive sustainable design and has led the design efforts in numerous award winning environmental projects. Alberto Franceschet | Permasteelisa Group Alberto is the Engineering Manager for the Windsor, CT office of Permasteelisa North America, a leading Building Envelope company that specializes in bespoke façade systems. Alberto joined Permasteelisa Group in 2001; before leading the Engineering and pre-construction activity for the North-East region, he was employed at Permasteelisa’s headquarters in Italy, where he worked as Project Engineer in the field of Thermal/Energy analysis for projects worldwide. He later transferred to the R&D department where he managed research projects in the field of Energy Saving, Renewability (i.e., Double Skin Façade and Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems) and Building Security (i.e., Blast Resistant Curtain Wall and Cable Facades). CONTINUING EDUCATION GBCI: Approved for 1.5 CE Hour AIA CES: Approved for 1.5 HSW/LU Hour   PLEASE VISIT EVENT WEBSITE TO REGISTER. PRICING Urban Green Council Member: $10 Non-member: $15 Sponsor Member: Free Admission Leadership Level Member ($250+ annually): Free Admission 

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