Las Vegas has been on a long run of pushing the entertainment experience, including ever more grand and opulent architecture. Enclos has been in the thick of it throughout, endowing these iconic buildings with elegant, high-performance facades. The Wynn Las Vegas and its freestanding sister resort Encore — two of the latest towers to populate the Vegas Strip — have managed to redefine the entertainment capital of the world with a new dimension of luxury and class. Nearly 5,000 luxury rooms and suites feature floor-to-ceiling glass and spectacular views of the city reaching toward the horizon. Enclos developed a custom curtainwall system for each tower, providing complete design/build services for each.
Custom curtainwall design is not just about good looks. Field schedules dictated that one entire floor would need to be clad each week, twice the rate possible with existing site logistics, equipment and manpower. In response, Enclos developed a unitized system with units spanning two floors that could be installed as rapidly as a single-span unit, essentially doubling the installation rate. This strategy was successful in realizing a remarkably fast track schedule.
first came Wynn Las Vegas
This 215-acre resort blurs the boundary between inside and out with an expansive use of glass throughout the structure and public areas that benefit from natural lighting. Glazing unit widths range from 66˝ to 73˝. Units span vertically over two floors and incorporate stacked full height vision glass panels 85˝ tall separated by one floor-line spandrel panel. Insulated glass units are comprised of 1/4˝ heat-strengthened exterior lights, a 5/8˝ airspace, and 1/4˝ clear tempered interior lights.
Enclos self-performed aluminum fabrication and assembly from its Rochester, Minnesota plant, where 7,000 units were shipped directly from the facility to the jobsite. Multiple mockup tests were conducted to provide proof of performance for the custom curtainwall system, including specification requirements for 12 psf static water tests, 600 pound window washing loads, 90 psf structural load testing and 3˝ seismic displacement allowances.
then the Encore
Wynn Resorts Limited followed the most elegant high-rise retreat Las Vegas has seen in true Vegas fashion — with the even more luxurious Encore. Construction began on April 28, 2006, the one-year anniversary of the Wynn resort’s opening. Once again, Enclos developed a custom copper-tinted curtainwall system with mirrored-glass, providing complete design/build services. Installation proceeded at a stunning pace using the same technique that had been refined on the Wynn tower. Similar to Wynn, glass unit widths ranged from 66˝ to 73˝ and span vertically over two floors, this time incorporating stacked full height vision glass panels 97˝ tall separated by one floor-line spandrel panel. Insulated glass units are comprised of 1/4˝ bronze heat-strengthened exterior lights, a 3/4˝ airspace, and 9/16˝ clear laminated interior lights. The system design for Encore employed laminated glass on the south elevation to significantly improve acoustic properties because of its proximity to Las Vegas Boulevard.
Curtainwall metal and formed panels were fabricated in Thailand and shipped to Enclos Corp’s production plant in Southern California for final assembly. 6,100 units were assembled and shipped to Las Vegas on a just-in-time delivery schedule to support the project’s nightshift installation crew, part of an erection strategy developed with the general contractor that allowed site concrete work to continue uninterrupted.