The Admiral at the Lake

BUILDING “VIBRANT RETIREMENT LIVING”
For more than 150 years, The Admiral at the Lake, Chicago’s first and longest-serving not-for-profit senior living provider, has strived to provide exceptional continuing care and retirement living. To carry on its “proud tradition of quality service to older adults who are drawn to the idea of vibrant retirement living,” the new Admiral at the Lake, an affiliate of Kendal®, opened in Chicago’s admired Edgewater neighborhood.

Chicago-based Softer Lite Window Company served as the project’s window installer. Lend Lease in Birmingham, Michigan was the general contractor for the project and Elk Grove, Illinois-based Alumital Corp., a subcontractor to Softer Lite, was the glazing contractor.

HIGHLIGHTS
Curbed Chicago, a popular real estate blog noted that The Admiral at the Lake, designed by Perkins + Will in Dallas, is “reminiscent of a series of fountains that gradually build upward culminating in a tall central column.” The building itself is a post-tensioned concrete structure with a mixture of punched openings, stonework and painted concrete. The high-rise, built to replace the old building that was demolished in 2007, also features garden and rooftop terraces, restaurant-style dining and activities ranging from a library/resource center, arts studio and club room to a theater and fitness center with pool.

CHALLENGES

• Lend Lease required that on some openings the receptors and subsills be provided with a nail flange for the installation.
• Because the building is post-tensioned, coordinating the fastener locations was complicated as the building team needed to ensure that none of the cables were penetrated.
• The building design called for several unique elements that would help it stand out yet deliver a sleek and streamlined appearance to help it fit into the footprint of the city and neighborhood.
• The site location, which was in a very populated neighborhood, did not afford the construction and installation team much space to work.
• Because the facility was being designed for senior living, entrances and other products needed to be easy to operate

SOLUTIONS

• Lend Lease’s requirement for sub-sills with nail flanges was accommodated by creating custom shapes designed specifically for the project.
• To ensure that none of the cables were penetrated, Kawneer product experts were very involved throughout the process, attending many pre-construction meetings to address any issues that arose with fastener locations.
• Use of window wall with a slab-to-slab application and slab edge cover featuring 90-degree custom corners with narrow sightlines added a unique element to The Admiral at the Lake and helped provide the desired appearance. A variety of window sizes and types were incorporated throughout.
• The TR-8300 – Thermal Aluminum Heavy Commercial Sliding Glass Door and NX-8900 – 3-1/4" Thermal Aluminum Architectural Terrace Door were utilized in numerous locations throughout the building. The TR-8300 offers several options for ease of operation – essential for The Admiral at the Lake – including an oversized pull handle and adjustable steel wheels for the operating panel and screen.
• Additional solutions including Kawneer’s Trifab™ VG (VersaGlaze™) 451T framing system provided enhanced thermal performance and a range of design options that fit the project’s requirements, while the Trifab™ VG (VersaGlaze™) 450 framing system was used in the garage areas. And to withstand heavy traffic flow, Kawneer’s 350 Medium Stile Entrances were used on the first floor of the building.

ARCHITECT: Perkins + Will, Dallas, Texas
WINDOW INSTALLER: Softer Lite Window Company, Chicago, Illinois

GLAZING CONTRACTOR: Alumital Corp., Elk Grove, Illinois
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Lend Lease, Birmingham, Michigan

Photography: ©Viken Djaferian/FotoGrafix

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