How do you modernize a 1910 building and double its height while maintaining its historical aesthetic appeal? You make modern technology speak the language of the past by collaborating closely with the project team to get all the details just right.

The hundred-year-old former warehouse at 330 Hudson St. in Lower Manhattan recently got a complete modernization with an eight-story vertical expansion. Our building skin team worked side by side with members of the project team to select, design and detail fa�ade systems to meet the owner's ambitious goals for aesthetics, performance, schedule and cost effectiveness.

The expansion's first four levels used precast concrete panels cast with a full-depth brick veneer. The panels span from column to column, making installation much faster than traditional brick construction while still matching the building's original appearance. Window sills and intricate cornice profiles, finished to match the existing limestone ornamentation, were cast into the panels as well. The punched windows used a curtain wall system to meet high air, water and thermal performance requirements. The appearance of traditional double-hung windows was provided by intermediate aluminum covers, mullion caps of varying depth and applied muntins.

The upper stories are clad in a prefabricated unitized aluminum and glass curtain wall system. Choosing prefabrication allowed for better quality control as well as faster installation. Customized details that echo the building's historical design include profiled spandrel panels and half-round column pilasters. The pilasters, which required custom extrusions produced overseas, were a challenge to fabricate. The design also includes deep tapered mullion caps -- to create depth and shadow lines around the glass -- and a custom-profiled aluminum cornice along the top of the curtain wall.

Careful design and detailing resulted in a fa�ade that evolves from classical roots to a modern system, while speaking the same historical language.

Project Team: Owner: Beacon Capital; Architect: HOK (formerly BBG-BBGM); Construction Manager: Pavarini McGovern; Precast Subcontractor: Global Precast; Curtain Wall Subcontractor: Genetech; Fa�ade & Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti.

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