With more and more older buildings being converted to housing, adaptive reuse of structures originally built as factories, warehouses or electrical substations, architects have to deal with noise issues.
Three development projects are dealing with this issue. Located along Niagara Street on the West Side, they are very close to the Thruway and the Amtrak passenger train line.
Architect Steve Carmina says special window glass makes the difference.
"I'm not too concerned about it. With the way we have glazed it, that's going to do it. That's the weak point. We're not doing any further insulation or anything like that on the building," explained Carmina, who was was the architect on the conversion of a high-rise warehouse located near the Thruway and the Scajaquada. That project used special glass to reduce the noise from the nearby highways.
