Project Details:
- Location: Downtown Chicago, IL
- Crew Members: 22
- Man-hours: 2,000
- Materials: Blue / Green Roof System, Sarnafil G410 PVC - with Electronic Leak Detection System
Chicago Penthouse
A large developer of high-quality apartment rentals in the Northern Chicago area contacted Roofed Right America LLC for a solution to designing and implementing several technically-challenging solutions for Waterproofing, Roofing, Wall Panel, Solar System and Sheetmetal aspects of the new building they had under construction. Other contractors had offered services for what the building owner felt were not permanent or elegant solutions to the problems they faced. The owners considered several types of green roofing systems, which they found to be lacking in performance and longevity or simply not able to work in the technically-challenging environment which involved a Blue Roof in addition to a Green Roof. The owner Dave had met with many designers regarding the extremely advanced design he had in mind and most of them were not able to offer solutions: with the right planning and cutting edge designs, Hanging Gardens and Roofed Right were able to design and install one of the most advanced rooftop living systems in the world!
Pre-job Conditions:
The building under construction is in a very tight and high-traffic area of Chicago, IL and the tower crane was in high demand by all the building trades and had to be moved to another job location prior to our installation by several months. This involved loading the materials on site and creating a temporary waterproofing protection for them that was resistant to the strong winds of the 150’ tall building profile’s stature. Especially difficult for the logistics were the ballast units for the solar components since these and the Aluminum Composite Panels are designed, fabricated, loaded and installed after the roofing is completed to avoid moving them multiple times and because there was simply no space to store them while leaving room for us to work.
Strategies and Results:
We implemented a Sarnafil G410 Self Adhered PVC system that would hold up to 3” of stormwater at any given time during a rain event and slowly release it into the city sewer system, all held underneath a semi-intensive and intensive green roofing system with a permeable running track and vegetable garden. Upper penthouse roof is inaccessible and not viewable by the building occupants so a solar panel system was chosen as the best option to offset part of the building’s electrical load in addition to all the other green energy features of the building. These LEED Platinum design implementations are the shining star of Roofed Right’s portfolio and DLG Management owns what is now one of the most advanced building designs in the world for energy-efficient building design and Green Rooftop Living Systems.
The historically-accurate metal panel custom design and fabrication on the salvaged Eagle Masony Work is some of our metal team’s best work to date as well, modeled after many images of similar historic buildings. The design on the upper penthouse Aluminum Composite Panel siding was a modern design showcasing the sleek building design, all components were designed and fabricated in-house using our laser scanning technology and modeling software for the 3D drainage system, panel designs and solar layout.