Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Playland “Ice Casino”, was built in 1929, originally containing a main ice rink as well as a full dance floor on the second level that functioned as a dance hall through the 1940s and '50s. It also had a full-service fine-dining restaurant and an outdoor café.
Until 2002, the New York Rangers hockey team practiced at the Playland Ice Casino. Playland appears in scenes from many major motion pictures such as The Muppets Take Manhattan, Fatal Attraction, and most notably it was the amusement park featured at the end of the 1988 movie Big starring Tom Hanks. The scenes where the Zoltar the Magnificent fortune teller machine returns the adult Tom Hanks to his original childhood age was filmed on Playland’s boardwalk. Zoltar the Magnificent is still in operation today!
CHALLENGE:
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the shores of New York and New Jersey, claiming parts of Rye Playland’s boardwalk, causing flooding and substantial damage to the Ice Casino. As part of the reconstruction efforts, the Casino’s old wooden shingle roof was to be replaced with a new standing seam metal roof along with finding a better solution for the rubberized fabric perimeter which was not energy efficient and provided very little natural daylight.
Because of the limited restoration budget, replacement costs and installation time were crucial. Wasco’s sales representative, Fontana Metal Sales Corp. presented the general contractor, MILCON Const. Corp, with an alternative option than originally specified utilizing Wasco’s Horizon Polycarbonate System.
The Playland Ice Casino’s new metal roof with Wasco’s Horizon Polycarbonate system, with light being transmitted through diamond windows along the outside perimeter.
SOLUTION:
MILCON chose Wasco’s 20mm Lean-To Horizon Polycarbonate, a dry glazed, standing seam system with proven energy saving solar and thermal properties. The translucent Horizon System is constructed of lightweight, impact resistant, UV protected polycarbonate panels. Wasco’s Horizon was chosen over the system originally specified for three very important reasons:
- 30 to 40 percent savings in labor costs. Wasco’s Horizon Polycarbonate System provided a much quicker, simpler, installation due to the fact that they were able to use the existing structure and supports to simply “skin” the structure, whereas the competitor would have had to build a whole framing system requiring purlin tubes for support. Wasco’s Horizon standing seam construction also required no outside fasteners which eliminated leaking and saved time and labor.
- 10 percent savings in material costs. Using the existing structure and support system provided a 10 percent reduction in material costs.
- Greater daylight. Wasco’s Horizon Polycarbonate System was shown to provide greater natural daylight than the originally specified competitor, which was critical since all the available daylight from the roof had to be transmitted through the diamond shaped window system on the interior which runs along the casino perimeter.
