Northridge Fashion Center Skylight Survey

• Location: 9301 Tampa Ave Northridge, CA 91324

  

• Project Type: Consultation
• Project Status: Completed
• Products Used:

Mall Skylight Survey and Consultation

Northridge Fashion Center is a large shopping mall located in Northridge, California. It opened in 1971. It was severely damaged during the Northridge earthquake in 1994, but renovated extensively in 1995, 1998, and 2003.

The mall’s anchor stores are JC Penney, two Macy’s locations, Sears, Sports Authority, and a Pacific Theatres movie theater.

An onsite skylight survey and inspection was made on July 20^th 2011  by Skylight Specialists, Inc. Represented by Rob Packard.

Skylights of concern were all the glass skylights on the site:

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1. (1 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylight. 44’ x 93’ nominal.
   (1 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylight. 32’ x 153’ nominal.
2. (1 ea.) Glass Segmented Barrel Vault Skylight. 55’ x 128’ nominal.
   (2 ea.) Glass Segmented Barrel Vault Skylights. 53’ x 138’ nominal.
   (1 ea.) Glass Segmented Barrel Vault Skylight. 53’ x 288’ nominal.
3. (4 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylights. 10’ x 20’ nominal.
   (1 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylight. 10’ x 30’ nominal.
   (1 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylight. 10’ x 35’ nominal.
   (3 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylights. 10’ x 40’ nominal.
4. (3 ea.) Glass Ridge Skylights. 13’ x 24’ nominal.
5. (2 ea.) Structural Cone-Shaped Glass Skylights. 32’ wide x 32’ tall, nominal.
   (10 ea.) Structural Cone-Shaped Glass Skylights. 16’ wide x 16’ tall, nominal.
   (3 ea.) Structural Cone-Shaped Glass Skylights.  8’ wide x 8’ tall, nominal.

Our Skylight Survey Found:

All skylights have dirty and streaked glass. More evident on panels that are not patterned.

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1. (2) Main court Glass Ridge Skylights and (4) large Glass Segmented Barrel Vault Skylights have unsightly un-patterned glazing.
   A portion of the units are failed but it is difficult to know exactly which are failed and which are just dirty.
   There are ~700 un-patterned units in the six main skylights.
2. (2) Large Cone Skylights have the same issue as the main skylights. There are ~100 un-patterned glass units in each large cone and ~240 in all ten mid-sized cones.
3. Glass Segmented Barrel Vault Skylights —Operations manager noted that they are beginning to have bird control issues. Primarily the four main barrel.vaults.

Recommendations:

1. Clean (exterior only) the skylights prior to replacing failed glass units. Interior cleaning may be needed, but exterior is definitely dirty.
2. Perform a skylight survey after cleaning to identify all failed or unsightly glass units.
3. Budget and replace the non-patterned glass units identified by the skylight survey through phased replacement.
4. Install bird control devices on the flattest sections at the top of each barrel vault.
   This work would need to be done after cleaning and glass replacements are complete.
5. Consider replacement of all patterned or solid glass to update the appearance of mall.