Crystal Towers

Image via Archinet

Brooklyn, New York

Architect

Delacour, Ferrara & Church Architects, P.C.

Engineer

N/A

Contractor/Developer

M. Melnick & Co., Inc. / The Doe Fund Inc.

FERO Products Used

FAST Thermal Bracket™ Offset Shelf Angle Support

Crystal Towers is an eight-story building with approximately 91,100 square feet of residential space for extremely low- and low-income individuals and families

Located in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, Crystal Towers is an eight-story building with approximately 91,100 square feet of residential space for extremely low- and low-income individuals and families. Affordable housing and economic development were top priorities for this development.

FERO FAST Thermal Brackets were used at every floor level and FAST Thermal Bracket Lintel Supports were used over openings in the building envelope design to ensure continuous insulation and optimized thermal performance. Using FAST Thermal Brackets enabled the design team to:

Incorporate a thermal break instead of a thermal bridge in the smart, energy-efficient shelf angle design;
Meet or exceed energy code requirements;
Achieve energy and cost efficiencies; and
Provide easy installation for the contractors.

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Overview

Greenpoint Landing is a 22-acre master-planned development site located on the Brooklyn waterfront with a view of the Manhattan skyline, bringing a mix of ten residential towers and low-rise buildings, a new public school, and four acres of parkland. The buildings are located on reclaimed industrial use lands, and the brick veneer utilized in the building design provides continuity with the historical neighborhood.

Challenges

For the brick on the Greenpoint Landing F1 tower, the design team was targeting an energy efficient “thermally broken” shelf angle system, and had originally specified a Halfen cast in anchor with knife plate system (Figure 1 and 2). Spacing of the angle knife plate system was specified at 18” on centre for 4,326 linear feet of relieving angle, requiring approximately 2,884 units.

Solutions

In an effort to reduce costs, the contractor suggested a FERO FAST bracket solution (Figure 3) for offsetting the shelf angle.

As FERO became involved at a later stage in this project, the FAST bracket solution needed to accommodate existing wall cavity specifications from the architect, Handel and DiSimone.

FERO was able to accommodate these using custom FAST brackets with a depth of 3-3/16”, slot modified for ¾” bolts and supporting a 4x4x5/16” angle. This project highlights the cost saving proposition of FERO Fast Brackets, as the switch to FAST saved on both material (eliminating more than 1,000 units of the original spec, using only 1,800 FAST Brackets) and labor costs, as the FAST brackets could be quickly installed by a single trade onsite.

Result

FERO’s technical team is available to support designers and contractors in value engineering their projects to reduce costs. On this project, the structural support offered by FAST Brackets allowed for increased spacing and reduced material costs. Additional savings could have been achieved if the anchor channels were not already installed, as the horizontal and vertical adjustability included with FERO Fast Brackets makes such channels redundant. Our team will work with your project specs to ensure costs are minimized through use of the most efficient spacing, anchorage and shelf angle size.

FIG 1