Independence Place, a senior apartment community in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, is using Saint-Gobain’s SageGlass dynamic glass in its new wellness center to increase energy efficiency.
SageGlass combined with other energy efficient technologies – including DC-powered LED lighting and VRF heating and cooling – has enabled the wellness center to achieve 30 percent more energy efficiency compared to the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline.
Independence Place is owned and operated by national real estate company Forest City Enterprises. The company recently built the new wellness center as an amenity, connecting two large apartment towers. The wellness center provides residents with in-home nursing, therapy and other services.
Forest City’s Building Technology Services group saw the wellness center as a prime opportunity to test new building technologies. SageGlass windows were installed throughout the entire 9,300-sq-foot building. SageGlass is electronically tintable dynamic glass that maximizes daylight and outdoor views in buildings while controlling glare and heat gain.
SageGlass’ ability to reduce cooling loads was instrumental in helping Forest City pursue LEED Silver certification for the facility. SageGlass aided in the “optimize energy efficient” credit by allowing the windows’ Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) to increase from 0.41 to 0.09 at full tint, as well as an improved R-value over the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline standard for windows.