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By Sara Hart

Facade on delivery

George’s Quay is a commercial office development in central Dublin, Ireland, designed by Dublin-based Keane Murphy Duff Architecture for Cosgrave Developments. Buro Happold Facade Engineering, the international consulting engineering firm with offices worldwide, designed what it claims is the first example of a fully glazed, preassembled facade in Ireland, which required close supervision of collaborating local and international building-envelope contractors.

 

George’s Quay, Dublin, Ireland Stainless-steel louvres clad seven pyramidal penthouse suites that form the roofline. The glass is coated in pure silver, which reduces heat gain and glare while giving a sheen to the building. The section shows the louvers and the inward-opening hopper vents that allow natural ventilation to be controlled locally.

According to Russell Winser, project engineer, “preassembly ensures superior workmanship, because all fabrication is undertaken off-site in a factory-controlled environment. This type of system also allows the facade to be assembled independently of the on-site works, thereby mitigating overall building program risks. Also, there is no need for external scaffolding, as the preassembled units can be lifted into position using a floor-mounted crane.”

Unitized construction is often a global effort. Winser explains, “The aluminum framing sections were fabricated in Toronto and shipped to Dublin, while the double-glazing units were fabricated in Cork (using high-performance glass sheets—that is, coated with an invisible solar-control layer, made in Germany). Glazing units and framing members were finally assembled in Dublin and then delivered directly to site. Architectural Aluminum (AA), a Dublin-based cladding company, fabricated and installed the curtain wall.” Although AA had overall responsibility for the glazing system, detailing of how individual components fit together was developed by a separate contractor, Kawneer Special Projects, based in the U.S.