Hudson Yards Tower C: Project Update

The Coach Atrium cables have been fully tensioned and the fittings and glass have been installed.  Caulking between the glass panels has begun. Check out the photos and descriptions below to see how it’s been done.

Here you can see glaziers on a swing stage platform in front of the Coach Atrium wall. Look at those crisp reflections of the surrounding buildings in the glass! Really sharp! Up to this point, the fittings and glass have been installed onto the tension cables that secure the 207 foot tall facade in place. The workers are preparing to caulk the facade joints with silicone for the final weather seal.

This image shows a close up of one of the stainless steel cast patch fittings that the glass is set on connected back to a Galfan link locked tension cable. With loads this big, stainless steel cable was not an option due to limitations in stainless cable diameter/strength available. Also, the designers decided not to use drilled glass; instead, it is clamped in place at the corners to allow a specific amount of flexibility and rotation in the patch thereby allowing glass lites to safely deflect with the cable over the spans between structural members. In the case of the Coach Atrium wall, there were kickers tying back at every vertical cable to the horizontal steel beams at every two floors (roughly every 27 feet). Pilkington Planar™ systems often allow designers the opportunity to customize hardware to meet project-specific aesthetic and performance requirements as shown by the patch fittings on 10 Hudson Yards.

This picture shows the tensioned cables on the lobby facade ready to be fitted with glass panels. This facade runs along a section of the High Line, the elevated park located on the West Side of Manhattan.

A worker caulks the space in between laminated glass panels on the Coach Atrium wall. This operation requires someone on the inside and outside of every lite of the facade to tape off the glass and make sure both sides are sealed evenly as the silicone bead is installed. After the joint is filled, the workers then tool the joints with spatulas and remove the tape to reveal a clean, smooth joint.

This is a shot from below of the entire Coach Atrium wall complete with glass and hardware. Notice the difference from last month when only the tension cables were in place. The glass has been clamped onto the properly tensioned cables that are connected to the surrounding boundary structure that supports hundreds of thousands of pounds of tension needed to sustain the system.

Dubbed the largest construction project of its kind, the Hudson Yards project masterplan will include over 16 skyscrapers and 17,4400,000 sqft of office, residential and retail space stretched across twenty-eight acres on the Far West Side. We’re proud to be a part of this project and are excited to bring you more updates as the project moves forward!

Next month, stay tuned for our update on setting the face glass and entrance portals for the lobby walls. Keep an eye on our LinkedIn company page and blogs for more exciting project examples and updates!

W&W Glass LLC is a family owned business with a 70-year history in the metal and glass industry, one of the largest metal and glass companies in the New York metropolitan area and the largest supplier of structural glass systems in the country. We have over two decades of experience in the design and installation of various building enclosure systems, including stick-built curtain walls, pre-glazed unitized curtain walls, Pilkington Planar™ structural glass facades, and custom metal and glass enclosure systems. We install all of our work with our own dedicated union labor force. W&W is consistently the largest employer of glaziers in the NY metropolitan area.