Project: Hollywood Casino
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Architect: Marnell
Product: Pilkington Profilit™ Low-Iron, Wave
Turning the site of an abandoned auto factory into a glamorous casino is no easy task. Pilkington Profilit™ low-iron, wave channel glass with a translucent metallic gold coating helped the design team for the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio, achieve this goal by capturing the golden age of Hollywood from the outside in.
To create the Art Deco inspired exterior, the low-iron channel glass was custom tempered and coated in a translucent metallic gold. The cast-glass channels’ low-iron composition allowed the design team to realize a more natural gold color from the coating, as it reduces the natural green hue typical of standard glass. The metallic coating and waved-shaped texture of the channel glass intensify color and light to form optical variations for casino visitors. This combination creates an exterior that sparkles gold in the daylight. At night, the backlit channel glass glows, illuminating the casino’s entrance.
The self-supporting, vertically oriented translucent channel glass strips and extruded metal perimeter frame form isolated channel glass “piers” that serve as dramatic decorative focal points for the casino’s exterior. Two channel glass piers flank the main entrances, framing an expansive, triangular digital billboard. Three channel glass piers fan out beyond each exterior entrance, descending in height. The piers are approximately 40 feet tall, 34 feet tall and 28 feet tall. The design concept is continued throughout the casino’s interior via columns made of three stacked, metallic gold channel glass tiers. The channel glass tiers incrementally reduce in width as the columns near the ceiling.
To welcome casino visitors in Hollywood style, four stacked elevations of metallic gold channel glass encase an adjacent parking garage. Its glimmering exterior spans upwards of 30 feet. Forty complementary custom channel glass light sconces help light the garage’s exterior.
Pilkington Profilit channel glass from TGP soars up to 23 feet, can be installed vertically or horizontally, and formed into straight or curved walls. It is available in a variety of textures and colors with varying degrees of translucency, allowing light through while maintaining privacy. Pilkington Profilit can be used in interior or exterior applications, with Lumira® aerogel to provide energy efficiency.
For more information on Pilkington Profilit channel glass, along with TGP’s other specialty architectural glazing materials, visit www.tgpamerica.com.
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2010
Luxury condos built for privacy
A new luxury condominium tower in Los Angeles, The Carlyle has 24 floors with 78 units. Each of the four units on each floor has a private elevator foyer. The top three floors house six 5,000-sf penthouses that offer residents both indoor and outdoor living space. KMD Architects designed the 310,000-sf structure, and Elad Properties was project developer.
| Dec 17, 2010
New engineering building goes for net-zero energy
A new $90 million, 250,000-sf classroom and laboratory facility with a 450-seat auditorium for the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign is aiming for LEED Platinum.
| Dec 17, 2010
Vietnam business center will combine office and residential space
The 300,000-sm VietinBank Business Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed by Foster + Partners, will have two commercial towers: the first, a 68-story, 362-meter office tower for the international headquarters of VietinBank; the second, a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments. A seven-story podium with conference facilities, retail space, restaurants, and rooftop garden will connect the two towers. Eco-friendly features include using recycled heat from the center’s power plant to provide hot water, and installing water features and plants to improve indoor air quality. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.
| Dec 17, 2010
Toronto church converted for condos and shopping
Reserve Properties is transforming a 20th-century church into Bellefair Kew Beach Residences, a residential/retail complex in The Beach neighborhood of Toronto. Local architecture firm RAWdesign adapted the late Gothic-style church into a five-story condominium with 23 one- and two-bedroom units, including two-story penthouse suites. Six three-story townhouses also will be incorporated. The project will afford residents views of nearby Kew Gardens and Lake Ontario. One façade of the church was updated for retail shops.
| Dec 17, 2010
Arizona outpatient cancer center to light a ‘lantern of hope’
Construction of the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gilbert, Ariz., is under way. Located on the Banner Gateway Medical Center campus near Phoenix, the three-story, 131,000-sf outpatient facility will house radiation oncology, outpatient imaging, multi-specialty clinics, infusion therapy, and various support services. Cannon Design incorporated a signature architectural feature called the “lantern of hope” for the $90 million facility.
| Dec 17, 2010
Cladding Do’s and Don’ts
A veteran structural engineer offers expert advice on how to avoid problems with stone cladding and glass/aluminum cladding systems.
| Dec 17, 2010
5 Tips on Building with SIPs
Structural insulated panels are gaining the attention of Building Teams interested in achieving high-performance building envelopes in commercial, industrial, and institutional projects.
| Dec 17, 2010
How to Win More University Projects
University architects representing four prominent institutions of higher learning tell how your firm can get the inside track on major projects.
| Dec 13, 2010
Energy efficiency No. 1 priority for commercial office tenants
Green building initiatives are a key influencer when tenants decide to sign a commercial real estate lease, according to a survey by GE Capital Real Estate. The survey, which was conducted over the past year and included more than 2,220 office tenants in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Spain, and Japan, shows that energy efficiency remains the No. 1 priority in most countries. Also ranking near the top: waste reduction programs and indoor air.
