Isokorb® steel-to-steel thermal breaks were installed in the Fulton Street Transit Center project in lower Manhattan. The $1.4 billion project was completed in 2014, and includes a architecturally striking oculus, measuring 110 ft (33.5 m) tall and 53 ft (16 m) in diameter.
Protruding from the main building of the transit hub, this "eye" was designed uisng hundreds of aluminum mirrors that provide year-round daylight to the atrium below, while also catching the attention of the 300,000+ passengers who pass through the area each day. The intriguing dome structure designed by Grimshaw Architecture is defined by a hyperbolic parabaloid cable net skylight, stretched within a cone, developed in partnership with James Carpenter. The cable net was fabricated by Tripyramid Structure and installed by Enclose.
Grimshaw Architects specified Schöck Isokorb® steel-to-steel thermal breaks by name for installation at the oculus. They were familiar with Isokorb®, and were looking for structural strength, as well as a thermally broken connections to avoid energy loss and condensation.
The manufactured structural thermal break element for steel connections, Schöck Isokorb®, is fixed to the main structure, and provides support to an outside service walkway for the oculus.
Isokorb® steel-to-steel
thermal breaks for steel
beam construction
Grimshaw
Arup
Skanska
Heintges & Associates
2016