LAKE FOREST, IL - In order for the open-air Tanger Outlet Center in Washington D.C. to maintain steady year-round retail traffic, they needed to provide shoppers with protection from the East Coast elements. 

After looking at multiple options, project architects specified six, 47-ft.-wide ridge skylights spanning 130-ft. and 250-ft. long for a total of 20,000-sq.-ft. of CPI Daylighting’s Pentaglas® system.

“We selected CPI because of it’s single source system and warranty, large panel sizes, which eliminated the need for transverse connections, panel strength, UV ray protection and unobtrusive connection using their fastening system,” said Lynn Carney, AIA, LEED AP BD&C, project manager/architect, Adams + Associates Architecture, Mooresville, NC.

But before installation, the architects wanted real evidence that the Pentaglas system would last. Touring other installations and studying Pentaglas-certified independent lab testing for weathering, loadings and life cycle, the architects specified the system confident that it would get 50% more life than other canopies they considered.

Featuring CPI Daylighting’s Nano-Cell® technology, which promotes long-term resistance to impact and wind loading due to it’s small cell structure and tightly spaced rib supports, the Pentaglas panels are made with a unique internal flexibility to absorb thermal expansion across the panel and in all directions. Most significantly, though, the panels offer superior light diffusion capabilities ensuring excellent quality of natural light and are 100% recyclable – making them ideal for any LEED project. Made with heavy-duty co-extruded UV protection, the Pentaglas panels come with a single-source warranty.

Today, a little over a year since the Tanger Outlet Centers installation, Carney and her team say the “quality, durability and aesthetics” of the long-spanning Pentaglas panels have helped achieved their design objectives.

“The CPI galleries have held up very nicely; the shoppers love it and the owners are quite pleased,” said Carney. “In fact, the owners have contacted me for production information from this project to use on other centers as well.”