161 Varick Street

The AAWD Inc. performed Kalwall cladding for the Manhattan Mini Storage building located at 161 Varick Street in SoHo, Manhattan, right after successfully completing the similar project of 131 Varick Street building nearby. Immediate transition from 131 Varick to 161 Varick is the most direct way of showing client’s trust, when he asks the same company to work on another building based on its previous performance, there is no need to qualify him anymore. The same professional Kalwall installing team provided the same quality of precise work, production coordination and customization for the second Manhattan Mini Storage building on Varick Street. Contact AAWD at 800-495-8175.

The Story: From 131 Varick to 161 Varick

The most revealing detail about the 161 Varick Street project is not the panel count or the facade dimensions. It is one sentence from AAWD’s own documentation of the 131 Varick project:

Once this building was completed, our crew was mobilized to work on another Manhattan Mini Storage building at 161 Varick Street.

That sentence contains everything that needs to be said about the relationship between these two projects and the confidence that earned AAWD the second engagement. When a client asks the same contractor to move directly from one building to the next without any competitive process, any new qualification requirement, or any pause in the relationship, it is the clearest possible expression of project satisfaction.

AAWD completed the 131 Varick Street Kalwall installation — 750 custom-engineered panels, each individually sized, delivered and installed in a seamlessly coordinated production-installation sequence — and Manhattan Mini Storage’s immediate response was: same crew, same system, next building. That is what a repeat engagement from a demanding commercial client looks like when the first project was done right.

161 Varick Street: The Building

161 Varick Street is a Manhattan Mini Storage facility located in the SoHo district of Lower Manhattan – at the intersection of Varick Street and Vandam Street, in the urban continuum between SoHo and TriBeCa, along the western boundary of the former industrial-commercial zone of Lower Manhattan.
The Varick Street area is one of the most diverse architectural environments in Lower Manhattan – a combination of lofts and warehouses from the 19th and early 20th century, commercial architecture of the mid-century, and contemporary infill development, which make the architectural character of this street. The presence of two Manhattan Mini Storage facilities, located at 131 and 161 Varick, is an example of long-term policy of Manhattan Mini Storage to transform the large Manhattan commercial buildings into compact storage facilities for residents and creatives of SoHo, TriBeCa and adjacent districts.
Like 131 Varick, the building at 161 Varick is the kind of urban commercial architecture where Kalwall translucent panels provide both functionality and aesthetics through the unique capabilities of the system, making the facade look different while providing daylighting, insulation, and integrity of the panels.

Why the Same System, the Same Client, the Same Crew

• Kalwall System: Proven at 131 Varick
  The Kalwall System was already proven by the 131 Varick Street project as being a successful fit for the Manhattan Mini Storage building type. The system worked successfully through the installation of 750 custom engineered panels individually sized for each particular opening with a seamlessly coordinated production sequence that dramatically changed the look of an iconic Manhattan building from 1924.
• Performance characteristics that made the Kalwall installation choice at 131 Varick such as diffused and glare-free daylighting achieved through the use of prismatic glass fiber panels, solid-wall equivalent thermal performance with solar heat gain coefficients as low as 0.04 and structural integrity of the composite panel greater than in case of conventional glazing – were applicable to the 161 Varick project. The system was already qualified. The installation method was already proven. The manufacturer relationship was already established.
• For the Manhattan Mini Storage, the reusing of the same system at 161 Varick meant avoiding the entire process of product evaluation and selection. AAWD’s work at 131 Varick showed what the system could do and how well it was installed by AAWD. The 161 Varick decision was obvious.
• AAWD Team: Certified Kalwall Expertise Already Available
  Kalwall system installation requires the certification of an installer which means the certain knowledge of the system engineering requirements, panel handling procedure, receptor frames details and weatherproofing requirements. AAWD’s certified Kalwall installer team had already demonstrated all the expertise necessary for the successful completion of the entire scope of the 131 Varick project.
• Using this certified team for the 161 Varick project meant having all the institutional knowledge built at 131 Varick available – production coordination protocol with the Kalwall manufacturer, the per-opening sizing experience gained in 750 individually sized panels, the custom brake metal perimeter detail completed for the entire facade of 131 Varick. Everything was readily transferable to the second project without any learning curve, without the need for qualification period and any ramp-up that would be required for a new team or a new contractor.
• Manhattan Operational Expertise: Gained at 131 Varick
  Operation in Manhattan – site logistics, NYC Department of Buildings permit process, work hour restrictions, coordination challenges of a high density urban block – is a particular expertise that can only be gained through experience. 131 Varick project gave AAWD the experience of operating a Manhattan Mini Storage building in a real project situation. All the challenges overcome at 131 Varick became the institutional knowledge that became applicable at 161 Varick.
• For a client with multiple Manhattan buildings this accumulated site expertise becomes a valuable asset. The contractor who had already operated in the particular logistic environment of the Varick Street block – delivery limitations, neighboring buildings issues, site requirements – becomes a significantly more effective partner in the second project than the one facing these challenges for the first time.