History
Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Playland “Ice Casino” was built in 1929, originally containing a main ice rink as well as a full dance floor on the second level that functioned as a dance hall through the 1940s and ’50s. It also had a full-service fine-dining restaurant and an outdoor café. Until 2002, the New York Rangers hockey team practiced at the Playland Ice Casino. Playland appears in scenes from many major motion pictures such as "The Muppets Take Manhattan," "Fatal Attraction" and, most notably, the amusement park was featured at the end of the 1988 movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks. The scenes with the Zoltar the Magnificent fortune teller machine were filmed on Playland’s boardwalk.
Challenge
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the shores of New York and New Jersey, claiming parts of Playland’s boardwalk, causing flooding and substantial damage to the Ice Casino. As part of the reconstruction efforts, the Casino’s old wooden shingle roof was to be replaced with a new standing seam metal roof, along with finding a better solution for the rubberized fabric perimeter, which was not energy efficient and provided very little natural daylight. Because of the limited restoration budget, replacement costs and installation time were crucial. Sales representative Fontana Metal Sales Corp. presented the general contractor, Milcon Construction Corp., with an alternative to the fiberglass panel system originally specified — the Horizon C-Series.
Solution
The Wasco by VELUX translucent Horizon C-Series is constructed of lightweight, impact-resistant, UV-protected polycarbonate panels. Milcon chose the Horizon C-Series over the fiberglass panel system originally specified for three very important reasons:
- 30 to 40 percent savings in labor costs. The C-Series offered a much quicker and simpler installation due to the fact that they were able to use the existing structure and supports to simply “skin” the structure whereas the competitor would have to build an entire framing system for support. The C-Series standing seam construction also required no outside fasteners, which saved time and labor.
- 10 percent savings in material costs. Using the existing structure and support system provided a 10 percent reduction in material costs.
- Greater daylight. The C-Series was shown to provide greater natural daylight than the originally specified fiberglass panels, which was critical since all the available daylight from the roof had to be transmitted through the diamond-shaped window system that runs along the casino perimeter.
