Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway
Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York welcomes guests with a newly constructed porte-cochere with a pneumatic ETFE film roofing system.
Fabric Type: ETFE Film
Market Sector: Entertainment / Leisure
Project Size: 11,000 sq.ft.
Architect: Studio V Architecture, PLLC
Engineer: FTL Design and Engineering Studio
Owner: Yonkers Raceway and Casino
General Contractor: LP Ciminelli, Buffalo, NY
Completion Date: May 24, 2013
Gambling is a game of chance, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That’s why the architects and owners of Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway took no chances by selecting Birdair when building its porte-cochere as part of a $50 million expansion project.
“The entrance to any building, particularly in the entertainment industry, not only has to be inviting, it also has to be exciting.” said David Capezzuto, Director of Business Development, Birdair North America. “Wherever people are going to spend their hard earned dollars, you have to set high expectations, and with Studio V Architecture’s design featuring Birdair’s ETFE system, this new porte-cochere delivers in spades.”
Innovative Product Pays Off
Jay Valgora, the principal and founder of STUDIO V Architecture says, “At Empire City Casino, we set out to re-invent the modern casino.” That included “a dramatic porte-cochere utilizing exotic structural systems and innovative materials.” STUDIO V chose Birdair’s next-generation material, ETFE Film (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) for a variety of reasons, including aesthetics, performance and sustainability.
One of the most lightweight and transparent cladding materials available, ETFE is a perfect application for roofing and façade construction, particularly in the 11,000-square-foot application for Empire City Casino. Its design was inspired by the unique landscape of the hill-top track at Yonkers Raceway and required a material that could flow as the landscape did.
The canopy was designed and engineered by FTL Design Engineering Studio, a pioneer of tensile structure design and construction technologies. Described by many as “sculptural,” their innovative port cochere design seems to grow out of the surrounding hillside.
Light This Way
The transparency of the ETFE membrane allows daylight to flow into the space below while providing cover and shade for people as they arrive at the casino. For those who enjoy night-time entertainment, the Empire City Casino installation of ETFE incorporates custom-colored LED lighting, creating a truly energizing and exciting experience for guests. For practicality purposes, as the film is UV transparent, it won’t discolor or weaken structurally over time. And, due to the low coefficient of friction of its surface, it resists airborne pollutants, dust and dirt, making it chemically resistant and self-cleaning.
ETFE can be a single-, double- or triple-layered application. The Empire City Casino project utilizes a two-layer application, known as a cushion system, where a pneumatic system maintains air between the layers of film that are attached in aluminum extrusions and supported by a lightweight structure. It’s these inflated “cushions” that create the unique and dramatic entrance that the architects and owners were looking for—and guests can’t miss.
Winner, Winner…
Had the architects wanted to either increase or decrease the transparency of the porte-cochere, Birdair’s ETFE has great solar control and shading capability. By incorporating one or more of a number of frit patterns to one or multiple layers of the film, its solar performance can be altered. Similarly, colors ranging from red to violet can be added to the film in the extrusion process, providing a consistent tint across the membrane.
In addition, the lightweight nature of the film itself and the structure required to support it made ETFE a very cost-effective solution for the architects and owners. And because it’s highly recyclable, it made sense in terms of sustainability as well.
In addition to the architect and canopy designer, LPCiminelli, helped round out the design-build team and bring the whole project together. “There were so many benefits to using ETFE,” said Capezzuto, “the whole design-build team, of which Birdair was a critical member, felt it was clearly the best choice and a great win for all involved.”
