View Smart Windows - Project Highlights
To celebrate the tireless work of our team and our fast-growing portfolio, we want to highlight a couple of recently completed projects and survey the impact of View Smart Windows in the wild.
The Hilton Universal City
Thousands of tourists and international visitors descend on The Hilton Universal City every year to visit Universal Studios Hollywood, located just a block from the hotel, and explore all that has Los Angeles has to offer.
With temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees in the summertime, hotel management was experiencing a first impression problem — as guests entered the hotel, they were hit with uncomfortable heat and glare coming through the main lobby windows.
To alleviate this tremendous thermal load, View Smart Windows were included as part of the hotel’s $7 million energy retrofit project — the largest commercial project in the U.S. funded by Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). PACE offers commercial property owners a new financing method for energy efficiency upgrades and water conservation measures.
“What we were trying to do with the Hilton was reduce their energy usage, increase guest comfort and then — because it’s still a Hilton — have some wow factor,” explained Michael Page, project developer at LA County Commercial PACE. “View Smart Windows were one of those solutions that actually met all three.”
View Smart Windows replaced the lobby windows, providing a solution without disrupting the hotel operations. Thanks to the eliminations of the thermal load in the lobby and other building improvements, the hotel reports it has reduced energy operating costs by a remarkable $27,000–$30,000 each month.
The hotel now not only enjoys a vastly improved guest experience, but also a better experience for staff as well. Mark Davis, the hotel general manager, noted, “We used to dread working during hot weekends with the A/C not working…outside at the entrance is over 100 degrees but our lobby area is nice and cool with no glare.”
Olive Branch Methodist Hospital
Methodist Healthcare, a not-for-profit healthcare system, recently constructed a five-story hospital in the booming northern Mississippi town of Olive Branch, which Bloomberg reported was the fastest growing city in the U.S. from 1990–2010.
The signature architectural component of the hospital is a striking south- and west-facing glass atrium that spans the full height of the building. During the design phase, the hospital weighed a number of options for the space, including accepting the heat gain or implementing a motorized shading system that would obstruct views. View’s solution allowed the hospital to block heat and glare, but not views.
More than 2,100 square feet of 9-foot-tall View Smart Windows didn’t have to travel far since View’s manufacturing facility is situated in Olive Branch. The atrium is now able to foster a controlled, comfortable environment for patients. Methodist Olive Branch Hospital CEO David Baytos observed that natural light plays a huge role for interactions between patients and their families and the hospital’s staff and physicians.
The installation also contributed to the hospital’s mission to build an environmentally friendly facility by reducing HVAC capacity by 35 percent. With annual savings of $2,000 in energy costs and an immediate $22,000 in savings, the hospital will be able to pay back its smart windows investment in just five years. View Smart Windows also played an instrumental role in helping the hospital achieve LEED HC Gold certification.
“Historically, one thing that architects have struggled with is how to control the sun,” said David Zegley, architect at Gresham, Smith & Partners, the firm responsible for the hospital’s architecture. “View Smart Windows now give us the opportunity to control that automatically so we can enjoy what nature has given us.”