Mystic Lake Center is a 70,000-square-foot event center and a 180-room hotel tower featuring 18 new suites with scenic views. Combining this expansion project with the existing Mystic Lake Casino Hotel makes it the second-largest in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Empirehouse entered into design-assist services with PCL Construction to assist with budgeting, pre-engineering, and the design layout anchoring of the saw-tooth curtainwall attachment.

Entering the project at the beginning of the design phase helped Empirehouse utilizes its Project Managers, Field Superintendents, and Glazing foreman to come up with an innovative on-site pre-glazing plan. It worked to doubled efficiency and reduced equipment costs and lift-related injuries for the nine-story hotel tower featured approx. 25,000 square feet of 6″ curtainwall assemblies glazed with high-performance glass. 

In all approx. 3,500 square feet of glass lites were safely installed by the Glazing Team in one day!

The “swoosh” curtainwall lining the event center of the Mystic Lake Center project offered challenges of another kind. Approx. 10,000 square feet of 10.5″ curtainwall assemblies were glazed with Sage electrochromatic smart glass. This state-of-the-art programmable glass automatically tints as the sun moves across the sky. Hotel and event guests can enjoy uninterrupted scenic views without the sun’s glare, while it provides a comfortable controlled climate by blocking heat-gain during the summer months which reduces cooling costs. To make this electrochromatic smart glass function properly, each unit needed to be carefully wired, tested, and glazed perfectly into a unique frame location. 

Architectural glass and metal scope:

• Approx. 25,000 square feet of Kawneer 1600UT champagne anodized 2.5″ x 6″ fully captured ultra-thermal curtainwall assemblies glazed with 1″ Viracon VS6-08 blue-green tinted high-performance low ‘e’ coated glass and ceramic frit at spandrel
• Approx. 10,000 square feet of Kawneer 1600UT champagne anodized 2.5″ x 10.5″ fully captured ultra-thermal curtainwall assemblies glazed with electrochromatic Sage glass
• Approx. 7,000 square feet of Kawneer 451UT champagne anodized center-pocketed, flush-glazed storefront framing assemblies including 1.75″ x 4.5″ non-thermal framing systems glazed with 1/4″ clear tempered glass and 2″ x 4.5″ ultra-thermal framing systems glazed with electrochromatic Sage glass
• 25 aluminum thermal and non-thermal entrances
• Approx. 128 lineal feet of structural glass balustrade railing at stairs, overlook, and exterior patio
• Shower doors and mirrors for 180 hotel rooms and suites
• Borrowed lites
• Suite glass shelves