Phone
(903) 583-7500
Project Overview
The Moxy Washington, D.C. Downtown hotel uses two large operable glass openings to connect its interior social spaces with an outdoor patio. Designed as part of the hotel’s highly social ground-floor environment, the openings allow the interior gathering areas to extend outdoors while maintaining the glazed architectural character of the patio-facing façade.
Renlita provided two custom Fold vertical opening systems, formerly the S-3000 Foldaway, each measuring 11’-8 1/2” wide by 9’-5 3/4” tall. The motorized, counterweighted systems incorporate 1” Low-E insulated glass and fold vertically at the center of the opening, allowing the glazed façade to transition from an exterior enclosure into two large indoor-outdoor connections.
The Challenge
The architectural design for the Moxy Washington, D.C. Downtown called for two large glazed doors that would hinge at the center as they opened. That movement requirement became an important engineering constraint because the originally specified Renlita S-2000 configuration did not break at the middle of the door as shown in the architectural drawings.
The openings also needed to function as part of the hotel’s exterior glazed façade while preserving usable space around the interior social areas and outdoor patio. The project therefore required a system capable of accommodating the center hinge specified by the architect, supporting large insulated-glass panels, and opening without conventional overhead tracks extending across the occupied interior.
The Solution
Renlita worked with the project team to use two custom S-3000 Foldaway systems, now called the Fold, because their center-hinged configuration matched the movement shown in the architectural design. Each finished door measures 11’-8 1/2” wide by 9’-5 3/4” tall and incorporates 1” Low-E insulated glass.
Each Fold uses two vertically arranged panels that hinge at the center as the system opens. A motorized counterweight mechanism raises the assembly, causing the panels to fold together and store above the opening rather than travel along conventional overhead tracks extending into the hotel. This configuration satisfied the architectural requirement for a center hinge while preserving usable space around the openings.
When closed, the insulated glazed panels form part of the exterior enclosure and maintain visibility between the interior and patio. When raised, the two systems create large open connections between the spaces, allowing the hotel’s indoor social environment to extend directly onto the outdoor patio.
Key Benefits
Design-Specific Center-Hinged Operation
The Fold was selected specifically because its two-panel configuration hinges at the center of the opening, matching the movement required by the architectural design. Project submittals document that this requirement led to the S-3000 Foldaway being used instead of the originally specified S-2000 configuration. The resulting system provided the required movement without forcing the architectural design to accommodate a different door geometry.
Space-Efficient Vertical Opening
Each 11’-8 1/2”-wide Fold system moves vertically and stores its hinged panels above the opening rather than requiring conventional overhead tracks extending across the occupied interior. This keeps the areas immediately around the openings available for guest seating, circulation, and other hospitality uses while creating substantial connections to the patio when the doors are raised.
Insulated Glazed Façade Integration
The two Fold systems incorporate 1” Low-E insulated glass, allowing the doors to function as part of the hotel’s glazed exterior enclosure when closed. The glazing maintains visibility and natural light while providing an insulated barrier between the interior and exterior. When the doors are opened, the same glazed portions of the façade fold overhead to create direct connections between the hotel’s social spaces and outdoor patio.