One of my colleagues, Sean Sullivan, and I were talking last week about curtain walls used in most new construction high rise buildings. For those unfamiliar with a curtain wall, it is the term used to describe the floor-to-ceiling windows making up the walls of these buildings, which do not carry any load aside from their own weight.
The conversation turned when Sean, an architect major in college, mentioned that these curtain walls will not be allowed under new green building codes in California. Apparently they are not energy efficient enough to meet the new standards, referred to as Title 24.
What does this mean for buyers and sellers of properties using this technology, such as the Millennium, Infinity, and One Rincon Hill? Well, the inherent value of these buildings will be increased since much of their appeal and value is in the unobstructed views all these floor-to-ceiling windows allow.
So unless engineers and architects come up with a energy efficient solution, we may be looking at the end of this post-millennial architectural design feature in California (and smaller windows).
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