General information Location: 4 Times Square, New York, USA Sunshine hours (yearly average): - Type of project: Commercial Type of application: BIPV Time for design process: 1 month schematic design; 4 months design and technical issues. Time for construction: 1 month: 2 weeks off-site pre-assembly; 2 weeks on-site installation Realization: - [ Top ] Description This 48-story skyscraper at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street is the first major office building to be constructed in New York City in the 1990’s. To raise the environmental standards of high-quality urban buildings, the Durst Corporation, which owns this new skyscraper, is implementing a wide range of strategies that result in healthy, energy-efficient buildings. Kiss + Cathcart Architects designed the PV system for the building in collaboration with Fox and Fowle, the base building architects. By doubling as a building material, the PV curtain wall is one of the most economical photovoltaic building components installed to date in an urban area. Energy Photovoltaics, Inc., of Princeton, New Jersey, developed custom-made PV modules to fit the building’s rigorous aesthetic, structural, and electrical criteria. As the first major commercial application of building-integrated photovoltaics in the United States, 4 Times Square shatters the traditional view that photovoltaic systems are economical only for remote cabins and telecommunications. The building points the way to a future in which clean, silent, solar electricity will be generated on a large scale where it is needed most -at the point of greatest use. The next major market for PV in the developed world should be where electricity costs are high and high-quality buildings are being built- in other words, in urban centers like New York City. Because BIPV was incorporated into the design at the end of the construction documents phase, the installation was made to harmonize with the established design concept. The PV modules were built to the same size specifications as standard glass. This project demonstrates the flexibility of BIPV technology in accommodating existing configurations. Shading issues were a special concern, as this is one of the tallest buildings under construction in the United States and it is located in one of the densest urban environments in the world. The designers studied the local massing and obtained projections of future construction at the site. They determined that the optimum area for the PV skin would extend from the 37th through the 43rd floor on the south and east facades. At that height, because of setback requirements even the tallest new construction would cast only fleeting shadows on that part of the building. PV modules were chosen which met the client’s standards for cost-efficiency, and performed well at the high temperatures they would encounter in this installation. They also were chosen to be shadow-resistant to minimize the effects of shading from other parts of the façade. [ Top ] System characteristics PV system power: [20] kW Type of building integration: - Type of cell technology: amorphous silicon Module dimensions: custom-sized BIPV glass laminate Array dimensions: - Inverters: 2 Omnion Corp 6 kW inverters, 2 Trace Engineering 4 kW inverters [ Top ] Project cost breakdown Financial information withheld by owner’s request. [ Top ] Performance characteristics The PV system is performing slightly better than anticipated. [ Top ] Project team Client: Durst Corporation Project architects: Fox & Fowle Architects Design: Kiss + Cathcart, Architects, PV architects Engineers: FTL/Happold, PV structural engineer, Engineers NY, PV electrical engineer Contractor: Tishman Construction PV manufacturer: Terrasolar/Energy Photovoltaics, Inc. [ Top ]