Our building has stacking glass walls on the south face of all floors. East walls of the first floor retail spaces have the same type of openings. The areas of these openings range from 90 sf to 400 sf when are they completely open. Where installed, these openings make up at least 75% of the entire wall area. We would like an equivalency for counting those areas toward the operable window requirement of IEQc6.1. We propose that the area of a standard window is 6 square feet. We request an allowance to account for 1 window for every 8 square feet of stacking glass. For example, a 90 sf stacking glass wall would equal 11.25 operable windows. Please confirm that this calculation method is acceptable.
The applicant is requesting an equivalency calculation between wall openings and operable windows. It is not clear from the description what types of openings are included in the "stacking glass walls". Typical retail spaces only have doors that may be held open when the climate is conducive to do so. If the only openings in the wall are primarily for entry and exit, the requested equivalency cannot be accepted. An operable window has a primary function to provide a user controllable and adjustable opening to maintain user required conditions in the space. A door does not have that type of primary function and does not qualify for the credit. Applicable Internationally.