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The Rechler Equity Office Building in Plainview, N.Y., is a LEED certified building that was completed in December 2011 and sits along the Long Island Expressway. The $8 million, 19,000-squarefoot office building was originally one of the first warehouses owned by the Rechler family. The third generation of Rechlers running the business, cousins Mitchell and Gregg Rechler, wanted an iconic building that would celebrate the company’s history while looking towards the future.
The Rechlers have played a key role in the history and development of Long Island. According to Scott Pollack, principal with Somerville, Mass.- based Arrowstreet Inc., the project architect: “The Rechlers are keenly aware of their place in the history of the industrial development of Long Island. Due to the building’s visibility, the Rechlers wanted a building people would recognize, something not typical of Long Island architecture. We tried to come up with a form and an idea related to their business; industrial in terms of use and material, combined with a forward-looking form and shape that would be timeless.”
The Design Process
Not only are Rechler Equity Partners, Plainview, the building owner, but the company also served as the general contractor for the project. Pollack describes the design process as a close collaboration with the Rechlers, and that having them serve as the client and general contractor, “simplified the decisionmaking process.”
One of the main challenges in the design was taking an original one-story warehouse and transforming it into a modern two-story office structure. According to Pollack, the first bay of the warehouse was sliced off to build the two-story section and then the second-floor addition was “married” to the existing warehouse structure. To create a new skin around the skeleton of the old building, the project includes 5,200 square feet of Moon Township, Pa.- based CENTRIA’s Concept Series concealed fastener steel metal panels finished with metallic Kynar “Silversmith” paint that acts as exterior siding. The addition is a torqued metal and glass lobby that serves as an entryway to the building, as well as a general event space the Rechler family may use for hosting gatherings. The space also includes surrounding conference rooms available for meetings and general use. Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., provided 10,240 square feet of its Vistawall Reliance Captured and Butt Glazed Curtainwall System, as well as its FG-3000 Storefront Systems. The curtainwall systems allow dramatic views from the main lobby.
A curved steel staircase provided by Spiral Stairs of America, Erie, Pa., leads up to the second floor common area/kitchen space. Accenting the stairs are ornamental stair treads created out of clear anodized aluminum swaged floor grating from Ohio Gratings Inc., Canton, Ohio. The curved shape of the common area creates a unique visual for the viewer, while individuals inside the building can enjoy a tree-lined view. Garage doors leading to an outdoor deck allow building residents to enjoy the outdoors, Mitsubishi Plastics Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., provided 2,000 square feet of its ALPOLIC PE aluminum composite material (ACM) panels finished with Kynar “Silver Metallic” paint to create the “wing” element that overhangs the lunch room and terrace.
The trickiest portion of the building to fabricate was the torqued entryway. Pollack notes: “There are no two parallel pieces of steel, it torques and it leans out in multiple dimensions. We had a number of sleepless nights before that steel was erected, yet it all fit perfectly when it went up. That is literally something 20 years ago we would have not been able to build and have it work.” Pollack credits computer modeling for the architect’s ability to create the torqued entryway. Specifically, using Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Navisworks, the architect was able to create a building information model and synthesize that model with the construction team’s fabrication models.
The entryway and surrounding addition are backed by a super insulated building envelope. “This envelope is one of the most interesting parts of the building,” remarks Pollack. “This is the first time I’ve used a metal SIP [structural insulated panel]. It was really interesting to work [with designwise] because it’s a super insulated panel with a steel structure, so it’s incredibly light and strong. It’s designed very carefully to eliminate the thermal bridging that is typical of metal stud construction.”
The 7,200 square feet of structural insulated metal panels by Thermasteel Corp., Radford, Va., are located behind the CENTRIA and ALPOLIC panels acting as an insulation barrier. SIPs are used in lieu of the combination of traditional cold-formed metal framing
(exterior metal studs) and insulation as the combination of the two products provided cost savings in terms of time and labor. The use of the SIPs allowed the architects to add more glass to create a stronger daylighting component to the entryway. In addition to the curtainwall, the daylighting strategy included a Pinnacle 3000 pyramidal skylight from Wasco Skylights, Wells, Maine.
Additional structural and ornamental steel includes the exposed structural steel frame at the lobby, custom interior office steel storefronts and numerous pieces of trim used to accentuate the millwork that were all coated in a clear finish and fabricated by HT Steel Inc., Farmingdale, N.Y. To accentuate the connection between new and old, even the existing exposed steel columns were stripped of their many years of paint coatings and refurbished with the clear coating to resemble the new steel.
Striving for Sustainability
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In pursuit of LEED certification, metal played a crucial role. Forty percent of the building’s steel beams were re-used existing steel beams and open web joists. Many of the new metal components had high recycled content and were fabricated at regional facilities. In addition, the curtainwall and garage doors aid in daylight harvesting, while wood used in the building was reclaimed in part from industrial flooring. The office features dual-flush toilets, as well as low-flow fixtures. Some of the rainwater is harvested for landscape irrigation
Owner/general contractor/installer: Rechler Equity Partners, Plainview
Architect: Arrowstreet Inc., Somerville, Mass.
Steel fabricator: HT Steel Inc., Farmingdale, N.Y.
Aluminum composite material panels: Mitsubishi Plastics Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va., www.alpolic-usa.com,
Aluminum floor grating: Ohio Gratings Inc., Canton, Ohio, www.ohiogratings.com
Concealed fastener panels: CENTRIA, Moon Township, Pa., www.centria.com/reimaginemetal
Curtainwall and storefront systems: Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., www.oldcastlebe.com
Skylight: Wasco Skylights, Wells, Maine, www.wascoskylights.com
Steel stairs: Spiral Stairs of America, Erie, Pa., www.spiralstairsofamerica.com
Structural insulated metal panels: Thermasteel Corp., Radford, Va., www.thermasteelcorp.com