Products at Work

Superdome reopens with a coated white roof

The Louisiana Superdome underwent a $185 million renovation before it reopened in September for the first New Orleans Saints home game in more than a year.

Part of the project was replacing the roof that was ripped off by Hurricane Katrina's

winds. Brazos Urethane of Texas City, Texas, won the contract to install a temporary seal on the roof last October, and also was awarded the $32 million contract for the permanent roof in February.

The contract required the firm to totally rebuild the dome's roof, which included replacing metal decking and applying polyurethane foam and urethane coatings. The team used Graco/Gusmer equipment to apply the materials, completing the job ahead of the tight deadline to make the home opener.

Graco

Natural ventilation

Natural ventilation is important at the Westcave Preserve in Dripping Springs, Texas. Designed by Jackson & McElhaney Architects of Austin, the preserve's learning center needed to fit in with its forest surroundings while letting air in to circulate during the hot Texas summers. An opening glass wall system allows visitors to see the nature preserve and opens to let in ventilation. It also has the ability to close off individual classrooms and create acoustical privacy.

NanaWall

Drying out Le Rêve

On the way to designing the HVAC systems for the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, the project's consulting engineer, architect, and mechanical contractor were confronted with fierce rain storms, rings of fire, and cannonballs of water—and that was without leaving their offices.

Show biz innovator Franco Dragone conceived of performers braving the elements of rain and fire indoors at the 3,000-seat Le Rêve theater, an aquatic theatrical experience at the Wynn. However, it was the HVAC design by consulting engineer Brad Geinzer, principal mechanical engineer with JBA Consulting Engineers, Las Vegas, and installation by Hansen Mechanical Contractors, Las Vegas, that would harness the weathering power of Le Rêve's dramatic effects and provide indoor air comfort. Mitch Trageton, Marnell Architecture, Las Vegas, was the project architect.

The fun starts with an 8,200-sf, 1.1-million-gallon performance pool, itself an evaporative nightmare. The pool takes in an 80-foot-high rainstorm, whose boiling effect sends bubbles and moisture roaring out of the pool, and dishes out an assortment of water cannons and other aquatic effects.

In total, Geinzer's dehumidification design for the 32,000-sf theater-in-the-round had to control an almost insurmountable 950 lb/hr of moisture. The design is anchored by two 32,000-cfm model DB-5362 and two 11,000-cfm model DB-5120 Dry-O-Tron dehumidifiers from Dectron, Roswell, Ga.

Dectron

Condo tower makes a fenestration statement

Sky55 is a new luxury condominium tower in Chicago's South Loop. Local architectural firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Associates wanted to make a statement by giving the 40-story tower an open, airy look with lots of windows and glass doors while still providing strong masonry walls.

For the tower and an 11-story assisted-living center, local contractor James McHugh Construction and glazing contractor HKL Systems of White Bear Lake, Minn., selected Moduline Window Systems to manufacture the windows and terrace doors. The company provided its Signature Series for the building's fixed and operable architectural windows and fabricated the radius floor slab and column covers for the floor-to-ceiling windows. The covers give the slab construction the desired look of a curtain wall.

Moduline by Vistawall

Composite panels double as suncreens

Executives at Fluor Corp. needed to meet an eight-month construction deadline for their new headquarters in Irving, Texas. Contributing to the speedy construction was the selection of aluminum composite material for a new application—sunscreen louvers. The louvers were fabricated for installation in timely fashion and also contributed to the project's LEED submission.

Alucobond