{"id":1072,"date":"2022-06-24T02:57:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T02:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/safti.com\/?post_type=case-study&#038;p=1072"},"modified":"2023-02-13T11:18:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T18:18:08","slug":"the-miracle-of-520-west-20th-street","status":"publish","type":"case-study","link":"https:\/\/safti.com\/case-studies\/the-miracle-of-520-west-20th-street\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miracle of 520 West 20th Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The design specified 11-foot-tall glazing. The fire code said no way. Guess what happened next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The view of New York City from this floating glass-and-steel aerie on the city\u2019s West Side couldn\u2019t be more majestic. In the near-distance reigns the Empire State Building and the fabled NYC skyline. Closer in, the growing architectural wonderland of Chelsea. Below, the strolling paradise of the High Line. Imagine this crazy-beautiful view being walled-over to meet fire code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welcome to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/520west20.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">520 West 20th Street<\/a>,&nbsp;the latest architectural pearl on a string of them along the High Line from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ma.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Morris Adjmi Architects<\/a>. The firm\u2019s portfolio of adaptive reuse projects reveals a sensitive hand at fusing historic integrity with contemporary design and materials. 520 West 20th Street is a classic example, essentially a stacked massing of new atop old in a beguiling vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Floating Three-Story Addition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seemingly suspended new three-story steel addition is poised above an old 60,000-square-foot, four-story brick warehouse. The family-owned building is being reimagined as an 85,000-square-foot, seven-story mixed-use center, ideal for a corporate tenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe historic integrity of the warehouse is preserved with the help of two new vertical cores that support the glass-and-still addition,\u201d explains firm founder Morris Adjmi, FAIA. The cores work like \u201cvertical masts to support the glass-and-steel box spanning between them.\u201d The new addition is cantilevered, creating the illusion of a floating office complex to High Line strollers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transparent Firewall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The upper tier features floor-to-ceiling glass panels. As obvious as that transparency seems, it didn\u2019t come without a knotty complication: The extreme proximity to neighboring buildings mandated two-hour-rated firewalls on the building\u2019s flanks. Spanning the new addition with an 11-foot-tall glass ribbon seemed like a dim possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe discovered there were apparently no manufacturers of two-hour-rated fire-resistive glass in the sizes we required,\u201d Adjmi says. \u201cYou could find smaller windows or create something with lots of mullions.\u201d In fact, the solution Adjmi\u2019s team had in mind would make 520 West 20th Street the nation\u2019s largest installation of fire-resistive glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture2.png\" alt=\"Picture2\" class=\"wp-image-22008\" srcset=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture2.png 300w, https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture2-225x300.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption><em>Image Courtesy of Morris Adjmi Architects<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Unexpected Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emphasize the word \u201capparently.\u201d A California company came to the architect\u2019s attention from the project\u2019s chief glazing contractor. Contact was quickly made to\u00a0<strong>SAFTI <\/strong><em><strong>FIRST<\/strong><\/em>\u00ae, North America\u2019s only vertically integrated, single-source manufacturer of fire-resistive glass, framing, and entrances for over 40 years. Yes, their ASTM E-119\u2013rated, fire-resistive\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/product\/superlite-ii-xlb-120\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SuperLite II-XLB 120 system<\/a>\u00a0met the fire code requirement. What about the oversized dimensions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good news \u2026 they could go even bigger. Lucas Posada, Adjmi\u2019s lead architect on the project, remembers the feeling well. \u201cIt was amazing. The windows are custom-designed to just what we needed.\u201d Having a maximum clear view area of 7,980 square inches with a maximum clear view height or width of 133 inches,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/product\/superlite-ii-xlb-120\/\">SuperLite II-XLB 120<\/a>&nbsp;has the largest tested and listed sizes of any fire-resistive glazing product available today. The inclusion of low-iron glass in the fire-resistive glazing units also ensured superior clarity and aesthetic continuity with the adjacent non-rated windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"868\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22011\" srcset=\"https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture3-1.jpg 868w, https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture3-1-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/safti.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture3-1-768x388.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><figcaption><em>Image Courtesy of Morris Adjmi Architects<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Good to Go<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were no code issues, either. NYC code officials took one look at the third-party certifications from <strong>SAFTI <\/strong><em><strong>FIRST<\/strong><\/em>\u00ae and issued a quick approval. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t even a question,\u201d Posada recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like the acclaimed re-purposing of the neighboring High Line,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/561492475\">520 West 20th Street<\/a>&nbsp;is a stylish reminder of how adaptive reuse can be a superbly-realized melding of old and new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The architects at Morris Adjmi wanted large, 11-ft. tall glass walls to highlight the breathtaking views for the reimagined Warehouse in New York City\u2019s growing architectural wonderland of Chelsea. However, the building was on a lot line, mandating 2 hour fire walls. SAFTI FIRST made this dream a reality by supplying the largest tested and listed 2 hour fire resistive glazing available today. The inclusion of low-iron glass in the fire-resistive glazing units ensured superior clarity and aesthetic continuity with the adjacent non-rated windows. The fire resistive units incorporated high performance glazing and were filled with argon for energy efficiency and occupant comfort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22007,"template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Miracle of 520 West 20th Street | SAFTI FIRST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Browse and read 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