Since ground broke over 40 years ago on the project to revitalize South Norwalk and the surrounding marina, it has become a central hub for family and friends to experience the Connecticut waterfront and all the food & entertainment it has to offer.
The project began in the mid 70’s to both preserve historic factories, and bring open community spaces to residents of Connecticut. More recently however, the now outdated renovations are getting a modern upgrade with projects like the South Norwalk Collection Mall, new store fronts and restaurants on Washington St, and the Ironworks Apartment Complex bringing innovative new ideas to the world of design and urban planning.
Willco sees projects like these as a great opportunity to create flexible and open spaces for the community. By utilizing our long line of folding and glass wall products, we can create large glass openings that integrate right into the existing space.
Large Glass Openings
Crown Hydraulic opening doors and windows are a hallmark product Willco has installed in storefronts and restaurants across New England. These products are perfect solutions to bring indoor to outdoor along the water. Crown’s large hydraulic windows and doors allow for spectacular outdoor views, more natural daylight, and to put it simply, more open and comfortable spaces for people to come and go. They bring the outdoor in.
With a variety of options that can be integrated into existing spaces, and custom design teams to help you find the right solution, Crown has been proven to be the go to for both interior and exterior glass openings. Imagine downtown South Norwalk with every restaurant and storefront open to the outdoors.
Another important factor in creating flexible spaces for renovations like this, is the ability to separate larger rooms with ease. For this, Willco offers options from many of the best operable wall manufacturers in the business like Skyfold and Modernfold.
Flexible Space
These two walls, installed over 10 years apart from one another, are nearly indistinguishable due to their extreme performance and durability.
Modernfold’s Operable Partitions for instance, were installed in the Maritime Aquarium in two of their large conference rooms to separate the space.
With high traffic and the need for flexible space, the aquarium was looking for a product that could be easily operated by all members of their staff. Run at high cycles, it also provides a high STC rating with acoustic performance to remediate noise .
Modernfold is one of the highest acoustically rated operable walls in the business, and the design of the wall itself enables any user to easily glide their steel panels along a smooth ceiling track. The panels then fit into place and deploy seals at the floor and ceiling level to prevent sound penetration on either side.
These walls come in a variety of glass and automated models. Having the ability to rearrange a retail floor, or section off a private party is crucial for businesses developing new inviting public spaces. Utilizing this technology in the South Norwalk downtown area is a great solution!
Staying Secure in Style
Another opening solution Willco offers is Cornell overhead coiling doors & security grilles.
Cornell Rolling Service Doors installed in an office building in Boston, MA.
The new Bloomingdales at the South Norwalk Collection mall has just chosen Willco for the job of installing six Cornell rolling steel doors at their loading dock and store entrance. These doors will help to provide high level security during closing hours, and provide state of the art functionality for their high demand of shipments.
The doors themselves are fire rated and extremely durable, with both insulated and non insulated options to suit your specifications. They come in an endless array of custom finishes and veneers as well as decals and logos to make your space stand out from standard steel cladded service doors. Every building needs service doors, why not chose the best?
Moving Forward
The ongoing work in creating a sprawling urban hub in the center of South Norwalk should inspire us all to strive for the ultimate solution when it comes to designing spaces for the future. With a focus towards environmental awareness and clean, open public spaces. It only seems right to incorporate more of these technologies as we continue to move forward.
Large Openings, Flexible Spaces, Natural Daylight, and Dependable Security all play a key role in the way these spaces are created, and Willco is proud to be doing our part!
