GlasWeld's glass restoration techniques save new performing arts school in Los Angeles thousands.
Central Los Angeles High School #9, located in downtown Los Angeles, is an award-winning architectural marvel, due in part to the many large windows incorporated into the design. By virtue of the school's proximity to the theater and music companies of the Los Angeles Music Center, the Colburn School of Performing Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Walt Disney Concert Hall, it is a comprehensive high school with a focus in dance, music, theater, and visual arts.A crystalline public lobby creates the entryway and faces downtown Los Angeles, so damage to the large windows in this area would definitely be difficult to hide. During the construction process these large gable windows became damaged with both scratches and welding slag from surrounding metal beams.
"The windows in the high school were installed before welding on the architectural beams began," said Brad Plumb, Contracting Services Manager for GlasWeld. "Welding slag had fallen onto the glass, and hundreds of scratches were also visible on the large windows. We used our Gforce™ Scratch Removal Kit to polish away the scratches and a proprietary process to take care of the slag, with great results."
It took a two-man team from GlasWeld a week to restore all the building's windows. The project's contractor estimated a savings of nearly $70,000 by repairing the glass instead of replacing it.
"School administrators and maintenance departments are seeing first-hand how budget cuts are affecting our educational system. We hope that by saving the districts big money restoring glass rather than replacing it, we will positively impact their budgets—leaving more funds for things students really need, like teachers,"; said Plumb.
Repairing with Gforce was also the sustainable choice for the school district, which had placed particular focus on efficiency throughout the construction process. Because the windows contained laminated glass, they would have gone into the local landfill if they had been replaced. In fact, the design incorporates specific sustainable design measures to enhance building and student performance including energy efficiency, ample day-lighting in classrooms, improved acoustical performances, use of low-emitting materials and high efficiency irrigation systems.
GlasWeld's glass restoration process using the green award-winning Gforce fit perfectly with the project manager's goals of environmental awareness. The high school was designed by architect HMC Architects/Coop Himmelblau and built by PCL Construction.
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