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Mechoshade Systems Links Daylighting with Effective WindowManagement®

WindowManagement® Enhances Employee Wellbeing and Saves Energy

from Mechoshade -- Interior Design, 6/16/2008 12:00:00 AM

The progressive concept of daylighting and sustainable design, pioneered by the new headquarters of The New York Times, illustrates that a cutting-edge WindowManagement^® system is a prerequisite to a building’s success. “It proves that effective daylighting is not possible without solar protection on the window wall,” claims Jan Berman, president of MechoShade Systems, the company that provided the building’s WindowManagement^® system.

WindowManagement^® can be understood as an amalgam of systems that solve heat, glare and other personal-comfort issues. These systems also complement daylighting principles such as those that allow views to the outside while maintaining the integrity of the aesthetics of a building’s interior and exterior.

Proper WindowManagement^® solutions such as the special-density shadecloth weaves designed by MechoShade Systems are essential in providing a comfortable, sustainable and energy-efficient environment. Today’s buildings are more dynamic than those of the past. Glass curtain walls have increased in size and utilize glazing with high visible-light transmittance such as PPG’s low-iron, ultra-clear Starfire^® glass. The increased visible-light transmittance has heightened the glare and heat gain.

Daylighting can reduce energy consumption and peak-demand costs to make it possible to burn less fossil fuel. Nationally, this is significant because the California Institute for Energy Efficiency and the U.S. Department of Energy have reported that 77 million megawatts per hour of electricity are consumed in America each year for lighting the perimeter zones of buildings where daylight is already present.

In order to combat the problem, The New York Times Building’s management and architectural team selected MechoShade Systems’ innovative SolarTrac^® WindowManagement^® daylighting system after extensive evaluation of different systems and technologies.

SolarTrac^® is an automated system that incorporates solar-control software to integrate digitally addressable motorized shades. The system tracks the sun while sensors provide reactive control according to real-time sky conditions or excessive glare. Shades are incrementally adjusted to support occupant comfort, view and energy management.

The solar-shading systems by MechoShade Systems more than meet the goals of WindowManagement^® and ideal daylighting because they complement the solar geometry of the sun and use MechoShade Systems’ own visually transparent shadecloths.

About MechoShade Systems, Inc.

The firm, headquartered in Long Island City, NY, is the leading provider of WindowManagement^® solutions to architects and interior designers. Launched in 1969, MechoShade Systems grew quickly by responding to the demand from architects and commercial-building owners for an energy-efficient WindowManagement^® system during the energy crises of the 1970s. Today, the company manufacturers and markets a wide range of custom-defined roller-shade systems, high-tech controls and almost 200 different patterns and colors of visually transparent shadecloths.