7 Bryant Park

Set in New York’s bustling Garment District and overlooking one of the city’s most cherished green spaces, 7 Bryant Park melds curved glass, stainless steel spandrels and highly transparent 10-by-10-foot openings glazed with Solarban^® 60 on Starphire Ultra-Clear^® glass to create a statement befitting the neighborhood’s fashion-centered legacy.

However, the project’s complex specifications and lofty sustainability goals created an opportunity for the Vitro Concierge Program™ to help the glass fabricator and curtain wall contractor complete the project on time, according to specifications and with optimal aesthetic quality.

The Challenge

In collaboration with architects Yvonne Szeto and Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and curtain wall fabricator Benson Industries, Vitro Certified™ Fabricator J.E. Berkowitz (JEB) needed to find creative ways to support the project’s quest for the upper echelons of LEED® certification. While Szeto and Cobb specified Solarban^® 60 on Starphire^® glass to lower long-term energy use in 7 Bryant Park— which would contribute significantly to its eventual LEED certification at the Gold level— assistance from the Vitro Concierge Program™ would help reduce the project’s footprint in the form of shipping materials and transportation costs, all without compromising the quality of the curved glass panels fabricated for the extra-large openings.

The Solution

While the specification for Solarban^® 60 on Starphire^® glass would help the project earn LEED credits in the Energy & Atmosphere category, coordination between the Vitro Concierge Program™ manager and JEB helped the project earn additional points in the Regional Materials category by using returnable steel racks and dollies instead of traditional wooden-crate packaging for each curtain wall panel. JEB helped package the glass units—each fabricated with both 10mm outboard and inboard glass weighing more than 700 pounds—for Benson to assemble into aluminum frames at a nearby warehouse.

Benson then used trucks and a fleet of custom-built dollies to transport the finished units to their final installation point on the job site.

The Vitro Concierge Program™ manager also helped ensure the project’s success by not only reserving the glass but also coordinating with Benson Industries and JEB to optimize the aesthetic quality of the curved glass panels by holding them to strict heat treating tolerances significantly under the ASTM requirement, which would prevent them from bowing and warping and to eliminate roller mark distortion.

In the end, general contractor Turner Construction says that JEB and Benson created a zero-waste project from one that would typically have generated one 30-yard container of waste per building floor, with all materials transportation taking place within a 500-mile radius.

In its completed state, the most striking elements of the 29-story tower at 7 Bryant Park are two conical incisions carved out of its northeast corner, which Szeto and Cobb designed to interface with neighboring Bryant Park. Two echoing hourglass shapes are complemented by extra-large panels of Solarban^® 60 on Starphire^® low-iron glass outfitted into 10-foot by 10-foot openings, which were specified to provide unobstructed park views while mitigating the heating and cooling loads associated with a glass-walled building. Horizontal spandrels finished with stainless steel add additional texture, reflecting sunlight during the day and colored lights in the evening.

Jeff Heymann, vice president of business development for curtain wall contractor Benson Industries, Inc., said Solarban^® 60 was specified on Starphire Ultra-Clear^® glass for 7 Bryant Park after it won a “beauty contest” between competing low-iron, low-e glass products displayed on a 40-foot-tall-by-15 foot-wide replica of the curtain wall.