April 30, 2010

THE METAL INITIATIVE

The old Penn Station Powerhouse once supplied steam-generated electricity to Penn Station and is now a preserved condominium project.

FEATURE | Building Envelope

Canadian architect revives Penn Station PowerHouse in New York

Former steam-powered electrical plant now a condo

PETER KENTER

correspondent

When CGS Developers and Zigmond Brach of Brooklyn, NY undertook the historic condominium renovation of a New York City landmark, the intention was to preserve as much of the structure as possible.

The century-old Penn Station PowerHouse in Long Island City, Queens, once supplied steam-generated electrical power to the city’s Penn Station railroad terminal. Constructed in 1906 and immortalized by painter Georgia O’Keefe in Across the East River it was most recently an abandoned plumbing warehouse.

Canadian architect Karl Fischer, who has offices in New York City and Montreal, was commissioned to adapt both the PowerHouse and nearby Schwartz Chemical Factory to multi-residential use.

Fischer initially hoped to preserve the power plant’s row of 90-metre chimneys by building a glass box between them but was thwarted by local zoning and so they were demolished and replaced with four metal-and-glass towers.

“The glass circular shapes are meant to recall the original large masonry chimneys that were demolished,” says Fischer. “They are in the exact location as the original chimneys but in glass and metal so that they can be used as livable space.”

The 11-storey chimney towers feature residential units with double-height living rooms and a Manhattan skyline view.

Construction of the US$170-million project began in 2006 and is scheduled for completion in 2011.

Now known as The PowerHouse Condominiums it was designed to retain as much character as possible of the original building, including the window profiles and three of the original walls.

However, the four new chimneys needed to be aesthetically tied into the exterior of the old building but no match could be found for the existing brick.

Riverside Group of Windsor, Ontario was awarded the contract for fabricating and installing 37,000 square feet of 4-mm copper-coloured Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) with fire-resistant core on all facades including the mechanical bulkheads and stair towers. The company also supplied 2,500 square feet of the material for the lower three floors of the elevation courtyard.

“The deadline wasn’t as tough as some of the condominium projects we’ve completed in the New York City area,” says Stuart Salonen, Production Manager with Riverside Group. “But the project accelerated during the last quarter of the schedule.”

The company manufactured the panels at its Windsor plant, then packaged them in crates before shipping them on flatbed trucks where they were hoisted by tower crane.

“The most complicated part of the project was with respect to the fact that there were some complex shapes that started out from a flat wall, then went from the flat wall to an inside corner, then around the chimney towers,” says Salonen. “There were up to four segments on a single panel, so we had to find innovative ways to assemble, package and ship them so that the panels wouldn’t be damaged in transit by falling into each other.”

The material was shipped both to the worksite and to installation partner Island International Industries, Inc., of Calverton, NY who also manufactured the framing components for the panels. Island International installed the panels under general contractor CGS Construction of Brooklyn, part of the umbrella corporation that includes the developer.

Riverside Group has worked on a series of high profile architectural cladding contracts across North America on such diverse projects as Pearson Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, a Los Angeles high school, and the Akron Art Museum in Ohio. “As a designer and fabricator of these specialty claddings, we’ve developed relationships with installers all over the continent,” says Salonen. “Island International is just one of our many partners.”

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