Joseph and Sarah Levy Senior Center

About Joseph and Sarah Levy Senior Center

The Joseph and Sarah Levy Senior Center serves the seniors of DuPage Township along with outlying communities. It was built through the joint efforts of Joseph Levy Jr. and DuPage Township to provide a beautiful and comfortable building which the seniors use as a meeting place.

The Center was designed around an open courtyard in order to create a bright and close-to-nature feeling. However, in the Visitor's Center all fifteen windows gained exposure from all directions and there was an abundance of solar light and heat.

The solar control challenge

The unfiltered solar light and heat proved to be both a physical and an economical inconvenience. The elderly clients were highly sensitive to light, heat and UV rays, and the high temperatures drove increased air conditioning usage.

Vertical blinds had previously been installed but were difficult for the elderly clients to operate. The slats were constantly either falling apart or getting stuck, and were not providing enough sunlight blockage.

The Levy Senior Center needed a window treatment that could entirely block out sunlight, decrease natural heat, and be simply operated by their elderly clients.

The solution

Illinois Window Shade Company was commissioned by Suburban Window Fashions to manufacture and install motorized roller shades for the windows in the Visitor's Center, collaborating with Doug Johnson to create an exceptional and easy-to-use shade system.

A total of 15 motorized room-darkening shade systems were installed on all of the windows in the Visitor's Center, fitted with Mermet Edessa Twilight fabric in the color "Beach".

This fabric is completely room-darkening and has 100% UV blockage, which cools the interior of the facility and protects furniture and floors from the sun's harsh rays.

With motorized roller shades, tenants and visitors now had the option to open or close the installed shades at the same time, perfectly positioned and aligned, with the touch of a button. No longer was there the concern of shade cables or strings getting tangled or stuck.

Results

Using a remote control, tenants, visitors and employees can now effortlessly control individual shade systems from up to 60 feet away.

Visitations and events are no longer affected by the amount of sunlight coming through the windows. The room-darkening fabric provides total UV blockage as well as solar heat reduction and protection.

The solar shade solution in the Visitor's Center not only looks great and complements the decor, but is also very easy to operate.