NYC Virgin Hotel Facade Construction

The Facade of NYC’s Virgin Hotel

June 2020 – Facade construction of the Virgin Hotel at 1227 Broadway in NYC is nearing completion. Designed by Stantec and developed by Lam Group, the 40+ story lifestyle hotel features a beautifully deconstructed tower over a three-level podium, bringing a contemporary aesthetic to its historic NoMad neighborhood. Upon completion, the NYC Virgin Hotel will be one of the largest and tallest hotels south of Midtown. The tower is set to house 465 rooms that will rest on a 90,000-square-feet of commercial space.

The McLaren Difference: Applied Ingenuity

For the reinforced concrete tower, McLaren Engineering Group’s facade engineering team worked closely with the Italian firm AZA-INT to deliver facade construction of the stunning custom tower curtain wall system. As the slim geometric facade grows larger with cubed sections that jut out from its sides, the tower is covered in a grid of subtle opaque glazed glass panels in a pixelated pattern of light and dark blue tones. To achieve the flush design with superior energy efficiency, our engineers utilized a prefabricated Wicona glazing system not typically seen in the United States. All of the glass load is supported on the exterior of the thermal break zone webbing which is made from recycled polyamide. This offers the building envelope a high level of energy efficiency and low thermal bridging that meet NYC’s strict sustainable construction goals.

At the 39^th floor, the vertical facade system transitions into a custom sloped glass skylight designed by McLaren. At the base of the tower, McLaren worked on the podium’s glazed facade that includes large floor-to-ceiling fixed windowpanes (solid panels with aluminum frames and vertical mullions) and rainscreen cladding. The space which is slated to house the main lobby and 90,000 square feet of retail space, will be wrapped in transparent glass to allow natural light into the space and make it more visible to outside foot traffic.

The Virgin Hotel is set to open in December 2022.