Historic Retrofit. Modern Results.
- Location: Massala Building, Downtown Indianapolis
- Type: 3-story historic commercial building
- Previous System: Water-source heat pumps with rooftop cooling tower
- New System: GE Appliances VRF MRV-5H system with heat recovery
- Indoor Units: 24
- Outdoor Units: 6 units across 4 heat recovery systems
- Control: Integrated with existing BMS, managed through a 12.5-inch touchscreen controller
- MRV-Link: Wireless communication network Haier VRF MRV-5
The Challenge
Preserve the building. Improve the performance.
The Massala Building, a prominent fixture in downtown Indianapolis, needed a serious HVAC upgrade. Its existing water-source heat pump system, supported by a rooftop cooling tower and steam supplied by the city’s steam system, was inefficient, noisy, and maintenance-heavy. And because the building was historic, any update had to be minimally invasive, no major structural work, no loss of character, and no extended downtime.
“They had a water-source heat pump system, which from a comfort, noise, and efficiency standpoint just wasn’t cutting it anymore.”
— Courtney Gardner, GE Appliances Air and Water Solutions
The Solution: A Retrofit With Respect
Retrofitting a historic building comes with challenges you don’t face in new construction. There’s character to protect and infrastructure to work around. For GE Appliances, it was a perfect match for the MRV-5 VRF system.
View and download the full Massala retrofit case study here.