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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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