Scope of Work
A new multi-story building on Beach 120th Street in Rockaway Park, on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. Alex GC provided the custom aluminum windows and doors: tall dark-framed window units stacked floor over floor, and doors to the balconies. The windows and doors are fitted with insect screens, which on this project also serve to meet the bird protection requirement.
Custom Aluminum Windows and Doors
The openings on this building are large and repeat up the facade, with glass taking most of each bay. Aluminum suits that kind of opening: the frames are slim for the size of glass they hold, they stay straight over a tall unit, and the finish stands up to weather. Each unit was made to the size of its opening. For how aluminum windows are chosen for buildings like this, see our guide to aluminum windows in multifamily new construction.
Screens That Also Protect Birds
Birds do not see clear or reflective glass as a barrier. They see the sky or the trees reflected in it and fly into it. New York City addresses this in its building code: under Local Law 15 of 2020, new buildings must use bird-friendly materials on the lower part of the exterior wall.
On this project the requirement is met with screens. A screen on the outside of the glass breaks up the reflection, so a bird sees a surface and not open sky, and the mesh is soft if a bird does reach it. For the people living in the building, the same screen keeps insects out when the windows and doors are open, which matters a few blocks from the water. One component does both jobs, and the glass itself stays clear.
If your project has a bird-friendly requirement, raise it before the windows are ordered. Whether screens, patterned glass or another method is accepted is decided by the architect and the Department of Buildings, and it affects what is ordered.
Photographs
Photographed earlier in construction, while the scaffolding was still on part of the building. See the November 2026 update below.
Progress Update, November 2026
The scaffolding is down. The white brick facade and the panel-clad upper floors are finished, every window and balcony door is in, and the building reads as designed: tall black aluminum units stacked floor over floor, glazed corner bays that wrap the building on two faces, and the cantilevered concrete balconies still bare, waiting for their railings. The protective labels remain on the frames while the other trades finish. Photographed from the street on a clear day in early November.
Similar Work and Related Specifications
Aluminum windows · Balcony doors · Window screens · Insect screens for tilt-and-turn windows · 2518 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn · 408 Lefferts Avenue, Brooklyn · Surfview Towers, Long Beach
Planning Something Similar?
If you are building in New York City and need windows and doors that meet the bird-friendly requirement, send us the drawings. We will price the windows, doors and screens together.