Project: Southbridge Middle-High School
Location: Southbridge, Mass.
Architect: Tappé Associates
Glazing Contractor: Lockheed Window Corp.
Product: SteelBuilt Curtainwall Infinity™ System from Technical Glass Products
When land and budgets are tight, building a new school is often out of the question, no matter how outdated the existing facility. Fortunately, district officials for Mary E. Wells Junior High School and Southbridge High School in Southbridge, Mass., found another solution. To preserve real estate and provide students with accommodations fit for the 21st century, they hired Tappé Associates to design a facility that would hold students from both schools. The result is the new Southbridge Middle-High School.
In the new facility, the middle school and high school classroom wings flank either side of the auditorium and media center. A sleek, glass-and-steel curtain wall joins them together, creating an efficient, shared space that bears little resemblance to the school’s dilapidated predecessors.
To ensure the right gateway between the two school campuses, one consideration during the design phase was selecting a glass façade that connects students to each other and the outdoors while also meeting thermal performance requirements. The design team found their solution with the SteelBuilt Curtainwall Infinity™ System from Technical Glass Products (TGP).
The steel curtain wall system is approximately three times stronger than traditional aluminum curtain wall assemblies and can use as a back mullion nearly any type of structural member, from stainless steel to glulam beams. This enables greater free spans, larger areas of glass and reduced frame dimensions.
In the case of Southbridge Middle-High School, the SteelBuilt Curtainwall Infinity horizontal and vertical back members were combined with large panes of heat-mirror glass to create a 27 foot-tall expanse that provides students with ample daylight and visibility to the outdoors. The curtain wall’s narrow T-profiles accentuate the school’s open, minimalist look. A custom connection and anchoring system furthers this design aesthetic with unique countersunk fasteners that eliminate field welds in the vision area.
Steel frames help improve thermal performance
As a barrier to the elements, the SteelBuilt Curtainwall Infinity System also does more than bridge the two campuses. The 1½-inch heat-mirror glass and efficient steel frames help improve thermal performance. Specifically, the heat-mirror glass secures a thin, transparent low-e film between two sheets of glass. Compared to a conventional 1-inch, two-lite insulated glass unit, it provides improved thermal performance, allowing for a reduction in the steel framing size. This helps reduce the pathway for heat transfer, creating an overall system U-value of 0.26.
Today, the sleek, high-performing curtain wall system helps create a welcoming entrance full of daylight and movement for students and faculty. “We worked hand-in-hand with Southbridge officials to find a design and a solution that best meets the district’s educational needs,” said State Treasurer Steven Grossman, in a Massachusetts School Building Authority news release. “The construction of this new middle/high school will provide more than 1,000 students with a new, top-notch learning environment.”
For more information on SteelBuilt Curtainwall Infinity products, along with TGP’s other specialty architectural glass and framing, visit tgpamerica.com.
Technical Glass Products
800.426.0279
800.451.9857 – fax
sales@tgpamerica.com
www.tgpamerica.com
Related Stories
| Jun 8, 2012
Allsteel names Kris Yates to head architectural products group
Yates is responsible for the start up, launch and ongoing sales and marketing of Allsteel’s new Beyond movable walls.
| Jun 8, 2012
Chestnut Hill College dedicates Jack and Rosemary Murphy Gulati complex
Casaccio Yu Architects designed the 11,300-sf fitness and social complex.
| Jun 7, 2012
Waterline exhibition displays visions for re-thinking the Chicago River
The designs of Waterline showcase why the Chicago River should once again be considered the city’s most important asset and sets the stage for increased awareness, education and reinvention of the River.
| Jun 7, 2012
WDMA and FMA to affiliate and integrate operations
Over the coming months both organizations will begin the process of formalizing the details of the agreement for final approval by both organizations, with the formal change expected to take effect in January 2015.
| Jun 7, 2012
Craig joins Cannon Design as associate principal
Craig will work closely with the firm's Corporate/Commercial Interiors leadership to help facilitate initiatives that strengthen awareness around workplace innovation and offer counsel on strategic workplace decisions.
| Jun 7, 2012
Stantec publishes 2011 corporate Sustainability Report
Stantec's fifth annual Sustainability Report was prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized G3.1 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, developed by the Global Reporting Initiative.
| Jun 6, 2012
KPF designs tower for Yongsan IBD
The master plan, created by Studio Daniel Libeskind, is a dynamic urban environment containing contributions from 19 different architects practicing in diverse locations around the globe.
| Jun 6, 2012
SOM urges Chicago tenants to partner with landlords to cut energy use
Tenants can exceed building energy challenge targets recently announced by Mayor Emanuel.
| Jun 6, 2012
KLMK Group awarded contract with Parkland Health & Hospital System in Texas
KLMK will also provide planning guidance in all aspects of the project related to facility activation.
| Jun 5, 2012
Cannon Design joins forces with Peter Ellis New Cities
Peter Ellis will now lead Cannon Design's urban planning and city design practice in collaboration with the firm's executive leadership.
