News

Venture:
Lakewood Garden Mausoleum

Collaborative Partners:
Mortenson Construction
HGA Architects & Engineers

Built into the hillside to preserve the cemetery’s pastoral quality, the Lakewood Garden Mausoleum’s elegantly simple design quietly embraces the landscape while offering a contemplative interior experience. This granite-clad, 24,000 square-foot, two-level mausoleum includes six crypt rooms, six columbaria rooms, three family crypt rooms, committal room, and support spaces. Light filters through exquisite patinaed bronze metal curtainwall, slim-slotted windows, and exterior ground-level walking surface skylights to offer a peaceful and serene experience to those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. Inside, light filters through skylights and lantern-windows to strengthen the relationship between the spiritual and the earth-bound. Clad in rough-textured gray granite and white mosaic-marble, the mausoleum unfolds horizontally on its site within three smaller pods that recall the many family mausoleums throughout the historic cemetery.

Lakewood Garden Mausoleum was designed by award-winning Design Principal Joan M. Soranno, FAIA with Project Architect John Cook, FAIA of HGA Architects and Engineers with General Contractor Mortenson Construction. Empirehouse joined HGA as a design-assist partner and was selected as the Architectural Glass & Metal Contractor for this one-of-a-kind project. The design-assist services Empirehouse contributed to the project helped bring the Architect’s unique design vision into reality, while keeping the project within budget.

Taking the Architect’s vision and the Owner’s requirements, Empirehouse brought together a team of premium manufacturers and laced them together with our architectural glass, metal and glazing expertise. Together we provided custom-designed bronze metal and glass products for doors, curtainwall, and window framing that are contemporary, transparent, and functional and compliment the existing structures.

The Lakewood Garden Mausoleum is not only unique, it is one of the finest constructed projects in the state of Minnesota. The attention to detail, the superior material quality of bronze and glass used for the skylights, windows, hand railings, and entrance doors, highlight old world craftsmanship.

Scope:

  • Six Flat Skylights
  • Custom fabricated Bronze Clad Windows
  • Ten oversized bronze balance doors with decorative grills and art glass
  • Glass guardrail
  • Family Crypt gates

Venture:
Treasure Island

Contractor:
RJM Construction

 

Macy’s brick facade on Wabasha and 6th in St. Paul has been renovated into the new Treasure Island Center and TRIA Rink which features four-stories of glass curtainwall. The fifth floor open-air parking lot has been transformed into an ice arena for the Minnesota Wild to hold practices.

Empirehouse partnered with RJM Construction and Collaborative Design Group as the architectural glass and metal contractor setting approximately 20,000 square feet of glass on this high-profile project.

The TRIA Rink was glazed with approximately 6,500 square feet of state-of-the-art electrochromatic SageGlass. This programmable smart glass automatically tints as the sun moves across the sky so occupants can enjoy uninterrupted views of the city without glare. It provides a comfortable controlled climate without the sun’s heat gain, and it is a sustainability solution with LEED certification points.

Innovative design-assist solutions

The ice arena curtainwall posed another challenge: the structural engineers working the project required six inches of deflection in the steel roof trusses above the curtainwall system. RJM Construction tasked the architect and trades involved to develop ahead detail that could accommodate this deflection. Empirehouse team came up with an innovative solution and incorporated a Tremco silicone sheet to help accommodate the movement while keeping the building watertight. Then custom break metal was added to protect the silicone sheet and provide a finished product that met the architect’s design intent.

The other area Empirehouse provided design assist was at the 20’ x 7’ Solar Innovations operable glass window wall in the level 2 curtainwall system. Steel reinforcing within the verticals and mullions were engineered to support the full-width opening.

Scope of Work:

  • Below the ice arena, Empirehouse installed three floors of 7-1/2″ deep Old Castle Reliance fully captured curtainwall system which was glazed with approximately 13,500 square feet of 1″ blue tinted insulating glass with a high performance low ’e‘ coating
  • Approximately 200 lineal feet of custom post-mounted Trex guardrail system glazed with 5/16″ clear tempered laminated glass
  • Approximately 500 square feet of standard 2″ x 4.5″ fully captured clear class I anodized Oldcastle FG3000T aluminum storefront framing assemblies glazed with 1″ blue Pacifica tinted glass with high performance low e coating at exterior assemblies and 1/4″ clear tempered glass at interior assemblies
  • Aluminum swinging doors glazed with 1″ blue Pacifica tinted insulated glass with high-performance low ’e‘ coating
  • Glazed sliding doors: Three fully automatic bi-parting sliding door assemblies glazed with 1″ clear insulated glass, 1″ blue Pacifica tinted insulated glass with high performance low ’e‘ coating, or 1/4″ clear tempered glass
  • Approximately 50 lineal feet of plexiglass dividers set within 1″ x 1″ clear anodized aluminum sill channel at the General Manager’s observation booth
  • Borrowed lites and fire-rated glass

Venture:
Minnehaha Academy

Collaborative Partners:

Mortenson Construction

Cunningham Group

In early August 2017, a natural gas leak at the North Campus, which houses the Upper School (grades 9-12), triggered a devastating explosion that tragically caused two fatalities and injured nine others. In addition to the human loss, a large portion of the facility sustained extensive damage that lead to a partial building collapse.

In early April 2018, Empirehouse began a collaborative design dialogue with Mortenson Construction to establish early schematic design budget targets and logistics review. Although the scope of work was not clearly defined, the relationship between Empirehouse and Mortenson, along with our combined expertise in complex façade integration and aggressive schedule completion began to work through the rough order of magnitude cost considerations and logistics concerns. Not long after these discovery sessions, Empirehouse had the opportunity to connect with the talented team from Cuningham Group Architecture. During this collaborative effort, Empirehouse took the opportunity to understand the teams overall design intent as well as the owners needs and expectations for the project. The flow of information was critical to the early design effort, as Empirehouse worked directly with Mortenson and Cuningham Group Architecture to provide pre-construction engineering, integration detailing and full scale mock-up review for assistance in selecting the appropriate glass substrates as well as a bird- friendly silkscreen design that will accentuate the façade aesthetic rather than deter from it. At this point, Empirehouse began to work within the building model to isolate and refine connection detailing and design details for consistency and accuracy in an effort to complete an early production set for material procurement.

The architectural glass and metal features that were included in Cuningham Group Architecture’s final design will include a custom horizontal line pattern silkscreen feature at the exterior glass to accommodate the bird-friendly construction requirement, a large flat slope skylight system (1/4”/1’-0” overall slope) with a trapezoidal configuration, ultra-high performance aluminum curtain-wall and storefront glazing systems to satisfy current NFRC performance criteria and an abundance of interior glass to allow passive light transfer throughout the classroom spaces.

Venture:
Minnesota Orchestra Hall 

Architect:
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg

Architects (KPMB) Architects

Mortenson Construction

Empirehouse provided pre-construction engineering services and cost studies to help shape the overall work scope for the glazing package. The main exterior glazing component includes approximately 23,400 total square feet of conventionally glazed aluminum pressure-wall system. This system was specifically engineered for the required high-span application, and a majority of the glazing is resting on an engineered carbon plate which provides the appearance of a suspended cantilevered wall system. The initial design required a +/- 5/8″ allowable movement at each attachment, which was only possible with the use of custom horizontal extrusions. The movement requirement also created the need for complicated independent loading connections for suspension of the wall system.  

The “back of house” glazing scope includes an additional 8,900 total square feet of applied veneer wall glazing, creating the appearance of a new glazing façade with a minor demolition of existing systems.

The secondary glazing systems for the building shell provide a striking aesthetic with a full structural glass wall assembly which makes a grand statement in the overall design. Incorporating approximately 3,400 total square feet of top-hung cantilevered structural glass fin supported wall system with stainless steel fittings supporting the glass panels, the architect created unobstructed views of the surrounding city skyline. A portion of this system at the “City Room” gathering space was installed after the installation of a custom precast sunshade device. This logistical issue required Empirehouse to commission the assembly of custom-engineered glass movement equipment for the installation of the oversized glass—some exceeding 76″ x 140.”

In addition to the glass fin supported wall systems, the plaza level façade includes approx. 4,500 total square feet of custom aluminum bar stock fin supported glazed wall system. This system was initially designed as an unsupported exterior structural glass wall assembly, set with top and bottom recessed glazing channels. While the unsupported wall system would have created additional unobstructed views to the exterior, deflection analysis dictated that the overall unit thickness required would have been a massive 2-1/4″ with multiple layers of laminated heavy tempered glass lites. The custom aluminum bar stock support system was proposed as a value engineering cost option shortly after award, allowing the owner to incorporate other desired glazing features without modification of contract value.

Scope:

  • The main exterior glazing component includes approximately 23,400 total square feet of conventionally glazed aluminum pressure-wall system.
  • Decorative Glass, back painted glass and custom laminated glass infill panels
  • Glass handrail 1,100 total lineal feet
  • 8,900 total square feet of applied veneer wall glazing
  • 3,400 total square feet of top-hung cantilevered structural glass fin supported wall system with stainless steel fittings supporting the glass panels, the architect created unobstructed views of the surrounding city skyline.
  • In addition to the glass fin supported wall systems, the plaza level façade includes approx. 4,500 total square feet of custom aluminum bar stock fin supported glazed wall system

Venture: 
Mystic Lake 

Collaborative Partners: 
PCL Construction

Worthgroup Architects & Designers

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

 

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