Park City Center Mall Skylight Retrofit

• Location: 142 Park City Center Lancaster, PA 17601

  

• Project Type: Retrofit-Replacement
• Project Status: Completed
• Products Used: Acrylic Retrofit, Barrel Vault, Kingspan L+A, Medium Retrofit, Polycarbonate Skylight, Quadwall Skylight

Tandem and Cluster Type Skylights Are Good Candidates for a Skylight Retrofit

Park City Center is an upscale shopping mall located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and is the largest enclosed shopping center in South Central Pennsylvania.

The original skylight design on this mall called for skylights to be installed in long sections with splits between the skylights utilizing gutters between each section.  The larger square openings were split in both directions like a cross. The gutters act as braces that help support the perimeter curbs.

This type of a design has problems because the gutters are difficult to maintain through re-roofs and other maintenance.  The acrylic domes are fall hazards and susceptible to heat loss/gain and condensation problems. These were prime candidates for a skylight retrofit.

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Solution:

• We removed the old skylight, leaving the gutter structure in place.
• The gutter structure provided curb support (collar ties) for the new skylight retrofit.
• We further strengthened the curbs to accept the loads of the new skylight retrofit.
• We replaced all the skylights with new barrel vault polycarbonate skylights.

Product Used:

• CPI Daylighting Quadwall® low-rise barrel vault skylights

Results:

• The new skylights provide a soft translucent light which is preferable because the light does not shine in your eyes or on your computer screens.
• The gutters no longer are needed for weatherproofing. In this case they were left in place to act as supports to keep the curbs from spreading due to the forces applied from the skylight.

Skylight Retrofit Benefits:

• Correct the daylighting and solar heat levels required for the space.
• Reduce dependence on electric lighting—increase energy savings.
• The owners love the energy savings provided by the new skylights.
• Increase the facility’s property value.
• Healthy, natural daylight in the space with soft translucent light and accurate color rendition.
• No required maintenance or re-coating costs—individual exterior panels  are easily replaced.
• In retail environments, increased daylighting has been shown to increase sales by as much as 40%.