Surf Avenue Pedestrian Wind Comfort

Challenge

This Coney Island development consists of two residential towers, one standing at 26 stories high and the other at 16 stories. The project features numerous amenities and private terraces intended for frequent use during spring, summer, and autumn. Given this focus, the design team had concerns about the viability and level of pedestrian wind comfort within these areas.

Solution

SLR was retained by the client to analyze wind comfort conditions at ground level and evaluate railing options for the terraces to achieve optimal wind comfort. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), SLR performed the analysis and compared the wind conditions against in-house criteria.

Semi-porous railings and solid railings were analyzed to confirm their efficacy and recommendations were provided to the design team for the numerous terraces. In some areas of the passive activity terraces (i.e., pool deck), additional mitigation features such as taller screens and/or local screens around seating areas were recommended.