Unitized curtain wall recladding on an occupied high-rise

The original stick-built assembly used pressure plates with a minimal thermal break and single-line gasket weathering. Perimeter air leakage was measurable at every tenant floor, and condensation was forming on interior mullion faces every winter, staining finishes and generating tenant complaints faster than the building engineer could log them.

Recladding an occupied waterfront tower had two hard constraints: tenants could not be relocated, and exterior swing-stage access was limited by wind exposure and by the harbor-side setback. Any solution built entirely in the field would have meant open building envelope overnight and an unmanageable weather exposure window.

The envelope closes at the end of every shift, so weather exposure never runs overnight. Panel setting became a repeatable, sequenced operation rather than a series of independent field problems.

The thermal break upgrade moved the interior mullion surface temperature above the winter dew point at the design condition, which is what actually ends the condensation complaints — not the glass alone.

Tenant floors stayed occupied throughout. That is only possible when the glazing is finished in a shop, which is why unitized was the right answer here even though the panel unit cost is higher than stick.