One Biscayne Tower, a 39-story concrete structure built in 1972, was Miami’s tallest building for 44 years. This iconic office building, at 2 S. Biscayne Boulevard, recently completed a $7 million renovation that modernized the main entrance and lobby. The original entrance system was pre-Hurricane Andrew and had a non-impact frameless glass entrance system.
Insight Design, the project architect and designer, selected Slimpact, manufactured by Faour Glass Technologies, as the ideal replacement for the outdated entrance. Slimpact’s frameless glazing system provided an upgrade to the north and south entrances, while meeting the South Florida large missile requirements for the High Velocity Hurricane Zone.
“Slimpact was the perfect product for this project as it allowed us to maintain the original design concept of the building while meeting all the current hurricane codes in Miami,” says Iñaki Muguruza, principal, Insight Design. “One of our biggest challenges on this project was the fact that we had to keep the tower open throughout construction, which required delicate coordination, especially with Faour Glass Technologies and the installation of the Slimpact system, which consisted of extremely large and heavy glass in the main entrance.”
Faour Glass Technologies worked closely with Insight Design on the system design for the project and with the general contractor, Hitt Contracting, on the installation of the Slimpact glazing system. In addition to providing and installing the new Slimpact entrances, Faour Glass also engineered and installed glass canopies on both entrances. Gavin Reisinger with Faour Glass was the project manager.
