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Iconic Glass structures – W Hotel, Barcelona

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Iconic Glass structures – W Hotel, Barcelona

Iconic Glass structures – W Hotel, Barcelona

The W Hotel, also known as the Hotel Vela, was constructed in Barcelona in 2010, and was designed by architect Ricardo Bofill. The hotel is made of glass and steel, and is shaped like a sail. The hotel complex occupies 64,000 square meters of land “reclaimed” from the sea in the Port of Barcelona and welcomes visitors to the city through the harbor’s new entrance. It connects the port to the site of the 1992 Summer Olympics.

W Hotel makes liberal use of glass throughout the building

The W Hotel features nearly 500 guest rooms, a rooftop bar, a marina, direct access to the Mediterranean Sea, and panoramic views of the City of Barcelona. It is the signature landmark of an area being redeveloped with high-end retail, restaurants, entertainment and other attractions. In 2010, the hotel won the Prix Villégiature Best Exterior Architecture Hotel Europe.

The use of glass is not limited to the exterior of the W. The hotel’s interior design makes liberal use of glass, both in the guest rooms and in the common spaces in the hotel. Dramatic LED lighting of glass-faced walls create an exceptional elegance.Most hotel rooms have a view of the sea, as do most of the meeting, dining and entertainment spaces.

The design of the26-story hotel is controversial because local building ordinances prohibited construction less than 100 meters from the shoreline. Prior to the construction of the W Hotel, along with the neighboring Agbar Tower and Arts Hotel, that ordinance was vigorously enforced.

The hotel façade is made of glass panels. Each panel was fabricated, then lifted into place. They were attached to the building using mechanical fasteners and structural silicone sealants. The glass panels reflect the color of the sea and sky, allowing the building to blend into the environment.

You can incorporate glass into your decorating scheme, and with the help of Glassprimer™ glass paint, you can choose virtually any color palette. Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly UV-resistant, and will not chip, crack or fade over time. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint or decorating with glass, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ira Smirnova , via Flickr.com

Radioactive glass in Fukushima

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Radioactive glass in Fukushima

Radioactive glass in Fukushima

The earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011 would have been big enough on their own, but the disaster was magnified by the fact that the natural disaster disrupted the operations of a nuclear power plant in ways that no one had foreseen. New research shows that the impact of that disaster continues today.

Glass particles landed in Tokyo

The earthquake and tsunami flooded the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing the release of radioactive Cesuim isotopes from the plant over the course of several days. Researchers have concluded that Tokyo, which is more than 200 km away from Fukushima, was dusted in radioactive glass microparticles created when the plant’s reactors melted down, and those particles hung around much longer than organic materials would have.

Cesium is water-soluble, and many scientists thought that it posed a lower danger because it could be washed out of the environment by rain. Because glass is inert and the radioactive Cesium was encapsulated in the “glassy soot” from the plant, the rain did not wash away the radioactive glass particles as it would have organic materials. That means the only avenues for removal of the radioactive glass soot would have been direct removal of the contaminated soot or direct washing.

Scientists examined air filters that captured some of the glass particles created during the meltdown. Based on their analysis, the particles were nearly as radioactive in Tokyo as they were when they left Fukushima.

Removing potentially contaminated soil was part of the remediation plan for the affected area, so much of the radioactive glass was eventually removed. The findings are significant enough to make the researchers rethink their approach to monitoring the effects of nuclear contamination on humans. Their concern is for the health of the people affected by the fallout. People inhaled encapsulated Cesium glass microparticles, which proved to be super effective at maintaining so much of their radioactive payload. Knowing that glass particles have a “protective” effect on nuclear radation (even the water soluble kind) allows scientist to better evaluate the immediate and long-term impacts of such an accident on human health.

At GlassPaint.com, we don’t recommend that you inhale anything but fresh air. That’s why we’ve made our Glassprimer™ glass paint a low-VOC formula. By eliminating VOC in our paints, we’ve made it easier and more pleasant to work with Glassprimer™ glass paint indoors. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Tamaki Sono, via Flickr.com

Google Glass may have night vision

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Google Glass may have night vision

Google Glass may have night vision

Google Glass debuted in 2013 as an experimental product. Google glass offered a head-mounted display and delivered information in a hands-free format. The product was put on the market in mid-2014, and almost immediately became a focus of concern for safety advocates and legislators alike. By January 2015, Google announced that it was pulling Glass off the market, but that it would continue to develop the product behind closed doors.

Google Glass has new life in medicine

Recently, Google applied for a new patent related to Google glass. The patent application indicates that Google intends to add night vision to the erstwhile product at some point. The application confirms that development on Google Glass continues. Despite the fact that it’s not available on the open market right now, the world hasn’t forgotten about Google Glass and its potential applications.

Despite its shortcomings “in the wild,” Google Glass is earning high marks in the Emergency Room. Doctors at the University of Massachusetts Medical School use Google Glass to communicate with other doctors both inside the medical complex and elsewhere. Using Google Glass has significantly increased the doctors’ confidence in their diagnoses, partially because they can consult with other specialists, and partly because they can bring information into the diagnostic process more efficiently. The School also had to make some investments into the devices to make them HIPAA compliant.

Emergency room physicians aren’t the only ones who have incorporated Google Glass into their environment. Plastic surgeons at Georgetown University Hospital are also using Google Glass during cosmetic and reconstructive surgical procedures, with positive results.

Google Glass has also found a following among clinicians who work with autistic children. Google Glass is used to help affected children “read” the faces of those around them. Autistic individuals often have difficulty interpreting the facial expressions of others. Facial recognition software, written by researchers at Stanford University, helps autistic children associate emotions with common facial expressions. The goal of the Stanford program is to assist autistic individuals in becoming more socially engaged.

Glassprimer™ glass paint isn’t used in medical research – at least not that we know of – but it can help you incorporate outstanding color and UV protection into your interior and exterior decorating projects. Glassprimer™ glass paint is a cost-effective, durable coating for glass surfaces, and can create a frosted effect for about $1 per square foot. If you’d like more information about Google Glass, you’re going to have to wait – it’s not currently available. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. Best of all, Glassprimer™ is available right now at our online store .

Photo Credit: CyberHades, via FreeImages.com

Glass watermark now available

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Glass watermark now available

Glass watermark now available

Watermarks have been used in business for hundreds of years. The first watermark was used in the 13th century in Italy, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that watermarks became a standard tool in business. Watermarks were developed to authenticate stationery and other official paper documents created by or issued by a particular company. Last month, a Swiss company, called Nanoga, announced that it had perfected a way to place a watermark on glass.

Glass watermarking technique can also be used on ceramics, metal

The new watermarking technology is expected to be used on the face of expensive Swiss watches and other brand name electronics. The watermark is invisible under regular light, but becomes readily apparent under ultraviolet light. The glass watermarking technique was developed at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and can be used on glass, ceramics and metals.

The technique works using a process called vapor deposition, which applies the company’s patented chemical formulation onto the surface of the glass. Following deposition, the process uses lithographic printing to determine which areas of the coated glass will be activated under UV light. The lithographic printing can create an image that illuminates when struck by UV light. The watermark could consist of a logo, image, serial number, word or any other distinctive pattern. The result is known as a photonic watermark.

The technique is attractive to manufacturers of high-end goods because it doesn’t change the appearance of the finished product, and the watermark can be activated with an ordinary device. The devices uses to create the watermark are expensive, and the watermark itself relies on a patented concoction that counterfeiters are unlikely to have access to.

The deposited vapor, which serves as a basis for the watermarking technology is about 1/10,000th as thick as a human hair, so it is imperceptible under normal conditions. The process took about two years to develop, and some watchmakers have already expressed interest in incorporating watermarks into their products.

Glass coatings show a great deal of promise for many different applications. Glassprimer™ glass paint, for example, creates a permanent bond with glass surface. Glassprimer™ glass paint is also UV-resistant and exceptionally durable, even in challenging environments. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: EPFL

Houston reboots glass recycling program

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Houston reboots glass recycling program

Houston reboots glass recycling program

Earlier this year, Houston joined a growing number of US cities that scrapped their glass recycling program because the city’s recycling contractor, Waste Management, determined that it was no longer profitable to include glass in the City’s curbside recycling program. Last week, Houston’s mayor announced that it had reached an agreement with Strategic Materials, the largest glass recycler in North America, to collect Houston’s glass in a pilot program.

Pilot program seeks to re-energize glass recycling

According to the City, Strategic Materials has placed two containers in centralized collection areas for residents to drop off their unwanted container glass. Prior to dropping off the glass, residents are asked to rinse out the containers and remove any caps, lids or corks. Strategic Materials intends to place an additional eight containers in other parts of the city. The City of Houston also operates nine glass drop-off stations for residents who want to recycle container glass.

Under the pilot program with Strategic Materials, the City of Houston will not receive any revenue for the recycled glass, but the pilot offers residents who prefer to recycle glass a free option for safely disposing of container glass.

The issue of glass recycling has emerged in many cities, as they try to cope with the increase in volume of container glass their residents generate at the same time the worldwide demand for recycled container glass has dropped. The City of Houston saved about $2 million by eliminating container glass from the list of items accepted by its curbside recycling program.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, about 28% of all container glass in the US is recycled, and 80% of the recycled glass comes from residential sources. In the absence of municipal container recycling programs, the agency estimates that more than 90% of container glass would end up in landfills.

About half of all states have at least one glass processing facility that can manage recycled container glass. For the states that don’t have processing facilities, that means paying extra to transport recycled glass to the nearest processing plant. That adds costs and reduces the already-slim margins involved in recycling glass. The issue of cost is significant, and few municipalities have come up with cost-effective methods for recycling container glass.

At the same time, glass has become an architectural staple for both interior and exterior design. If you’d like to see some inspiration for decorating with glass, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center , via Flickr.com

Glass sky slide opens in LA

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Glass sky slide opens in LA

Glass sky slide opens in LA

What do you get when you combine the tallest building in Los Angeles with a 46-foot glass sky slide? You get a thrill ride unlike any other. The OUE Skyspace LA opened last month to visitors. The glass sky slide was constructed near the top of the U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the city. The glass slide offers panoramic views of the city, and promises to be a big-city attraction like no other.

Glass sky slide aims to be key tourist attraction

The slide takes riders just one floor down – from the 70th floor to the 69th floor, but the slide is suspended nearly 1,000 feet in the air. The slide is constructed of 1.25″ thick glass panels on all sides and sends visitors into California’s largest open-air observation deck, which wraps around the 69th floor of the US Bank Tower.

Prospective sky riders can purchase tickets for the attraction online, and prices start at $27 for a single day, single visit admission for children between the ages of 5 and 12. Visitors over the age of 13 will pay $33 for a single-day admission ticket. The tickets are timed-entry, and give visitors access to the sky slide and all four floors of the Skyspace LA exhibit, including two outdoor observation decks. Visitors who can do without the thrill can purchase tickets for the Skyspace LA exhibit, sans the slide. Exhibit-only admission ticket range between $19 and $25.

A VIP experience ticket is also available, which allows visitors to arrive at their own convenience and ride the slide. Prices for VIP tickets start at $48. The space is also available for private rentals and can accommodate as many as 300 people at one time. The observation decks have a maximum capacity of 900 people.

The Skyspace attraction has been in the works for about a year. The US Bank Tower was purchased in 2013 by OUE Ltd., a Singapore-based firm. Originally called The Library Tower, the US Bank Tower was built in 1989 as a mixed-use retail and office space. Before the Library Tower opened, more than 80% of its space was rented to corporate clientele. It has recently fallen on hard times and its occupancy rate dropped to just about 50%, but OUE Ltd., is betting on a resurgence of the area surrounding the US Tower Building. The Skyspace attraction, including the glass slide and observation decks, is operated by Legends, an entertainment firm that also owns the New York Yankees major league baseball team and the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise.

Landmark buildings in Chicago and New York City have offered glass observation deck access to visitors for years. Although the US Bank Tower is shorter than most observation decks in other cities, the geography of the area permits extensive views of the city. Under new management, and with significant investment in the building, occupancy rate is over 80%, and the building is ready to welcome visitors to the highest floors of the structure.

If you’re looking for more glass inspiration, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Joseph Engel , via Flickr.com

Turtle Beach Debuts Glass Directional Speakers

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Turtle Beach Debuts Directional Glass Speakers

Turtle Beach Debuts Directional Glass Speakers

Turtle Beach, a manufacturer best known for gaming headsets, announced last month that it had developed directional speakers made from transparent glass. The company predicts that the glass speakers could be incorporated into desktop monitors and speakers, automobiles, and display equipment. According to Turtle Beach, the directional speakers could be used to enhance safety in automobiles by directing audible warnings directly at the driver.

Glass speakers can be incorporated into mobile devices

The new glass speakers generate a highly focused audio beam to listeners in a specific location. The company says that the technology, known as HyperSound, is similar to touchscreen glass, which incorporates multiple layers and electronic controls and sensors. HyperSound speakers feature a transparent film layered on top of thin glass, which facilitates a directable ultrasound beam.

The technology operates on low voltage, which makes it ideal for mobile and other low-power applications. Speaker panel size can be adapted to the application, meaning that the speakers can be incorporated into devices of various size.

Transparent glass speakers have a number of important commercial applications, too. Their specialty is creating a highly directional, focused beam of sound that remains clear over long distances. Because the beam is focused, applications can deliver sound to one person without disturbing others. This technology could be used to deliver information in a retail setting or a gallery. Directional audio could also be used to deliver warnings and advice. Turtle Beach envisions applications that include banking, entertainment, food service, health and fitness, hospitality, museums, retail, theme parks and trade shows.

According to the company, the glass speakers are already being tested in two different environments. Build-A-Bear Workshop is testing the HyperSound technology in its stores to provide audio at different workstations within the store. Turtle Beach also says that McDonald’s is conducting a pilot test of the technology in some of its restaurant to provide television audio at dining tables, which allows guests to watch video feeds at their tables without disturbing other diners in the area.

Glassprimer™ glass paint won’t provide directional sound, but it does offer an impressive array of color designed to be applied directly to glass surfaces. If you’re looking for design inspiration from glass, please view the rest of our website. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Turtle Beach

Iconic glass structures – Basque Health Dept

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Iconic glass structures - Basque Health Department Headquarters

Iconic glass structures – Basque Health Department Headquarters

What do you do when you need to expand a building in Bilbao, but you’re confronted with a patchwork quilt of building codes that restrict what you can do with the building’s design? You design a double-skinned glass and steel addition. The outside of the Basque Health Department in Bilbao shows an exterior that meets the local building code requirements, and an interior that meets the needs of the building’s occupants.

Glass and steel construction offers energy efficiency

The quirky building extension, which is required to have setbacks, walls that conform to those of neighboring buildings, and a tower, was designed by Coll-Barreu Arquitectos and has quickly become a landmark structure. The original building was designed in 1862, and the original structure – along with its neighbors – was designed in the style of that time. The addition was proposed in 2003 – 2004 and construction began in December 2004. The project was completed in February 2008.

The double-façade approach comes with additional benefits beyond simply meeting local design requirements. The glass and steel façade significantly reduces street noise in the building, because the double skin acts as a sound insulator. It also improves the building’s fire safety and reduces solar heat gain in the working interior of the building, making the addition highly energy efficient. The seven-story addition sits atop a three-level underground parking lot.

The outer façade of the building has a folded, almost random appearance, and is made of glass and tubular steel. The exterior skin isn’t tightly sealed, which allows the space between the inner and outer façades to “breathe.” The angled exterior glass controls the ability of UV-radiation to penetrate the interior façade, which reduces the amount of heat that accumulates in the working structure during the day. The building also features a two-story glass atrium and a roof deck, both of which are used for meetings and events.

The exterior façade uses laminated glass made of three distinct layers – glass, a layer of PVB, and a layer of low-e SunGuard glass by Guardian Industries. The interior façade features double-paned windows made of float glass and low-e laminated Neutralite glass, also made by Guardian Industries.

The Basque Health Department features one interesting way to design with glass. You can also bring glass into your own living and working space. Glassprimer™ glass paint creates a wide variety of opportunities to put glass to work as a decorating surface in both residential and commercial settings. If you’re looking for glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Wojtek Gurak, via FreeImages.com

Smart glass may spur market

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Smart glass may spur market

Smart glass may spur market

If you’ve sat in the sun inside a building, you know that full sun can heat up a building quickly. That accumulated heat, along with blinding glare, can make some spaces virtually unusable at certain times of the day. Smart glass proposes to change all of that.

Smart glass can reduce energy consumption

Smart glass is self-tinting glass that changes to increase reflectivity when the Sun is at its worst. Self-tinting glass isn’t new. It’s been used for years in small applications. New manufacturing technologies have vastly increased the size of smart glass panels, opening the glass up as an option for use in building construction.

Smart glass can be installed to reduce glare and minimize temperature increases inside a building. In addition, smart glass is active, so it changes its tint based on the solar conditions. Other options, like low-e glass do not change to meet conditions. Smart glass can reduce or eliminate the need for exterior shutters, shades and awnings to control sunlight entering the building.

So far, smart glass has found its greatest appeal in commercial buildings like hospitals, universities and office buildings. Analysts believe that the market for architectural smart glass will double or perhaps triple between 2014 and 2020. The glass is exceptionally interesting for construction applications. The Department of Energy estimates that buildings that use smart glass could reduce their energy consumption by nearly half, and lower their peak electricity demand by one-sixth.

With the glass, operating costs aren’t the only thing that could shrink. Buildings could use smaller HVAC systems, which would lower construction costs, mortgage costs and the cost of rent. The availability of smart glass could also have an impact on productivity. Studies have shown that virtually all workers perform better when they have a view of the outside.

Even though the windows offer superior energy efficiency, initial cost is still a barrier to more widespread adoption. The glass costs about $100 per square foot, but when compared to both its energy-saving potential, and the need to dress ordinary glass with curtains, shutters or blinds, the cost-benefit analysis often works in favor of smart glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint offers a cost-effective, UV-resistant option to create opaque or translucent glass, at about $1.00 per square foot. Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in a wide variety of colors, and can be color-matched to any major paint manufacturer’s paint palette. It bonds permanently with the glass and will not peel, fade or chip.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Wendy Lefkowich, via Flickr.com

Chinese researchers develop UV-absorbing glass

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Chinese researchers develop UV-absorbing glass

Chinese researchers develop UV-absorbing glass

The damaging potential of UV-light is well know. UV light is the culprit behind sunburns, faded colors and material deterioration. A group of researchers in China may have discovered a glass-based compound that absorbs UV light before it can do damage. The UV-absorbing glass could be useful in space exploration, and preservation.

UV-absorbing compound could be used in glass, polymers

The glass compound is made from glass ceramics combined with cerium-IV oxide. Cerium-IV oxide naturally absorbs UV light. By combining it with transparent glass, the scientists were able to make UV-absorbing shields that can protect biological tissues as well as sensitive electronics that would otherwise be damaged by exposure to UV radiation.

The material can be produced in bulk form or as a film, making it suitable as a thin, long-lasting shield. In space, a radiation-absorbing coating could increase the functional lifetime of sensitive electronic equipment. Closer to home, the coating could help reduce tissue damage from UV light, and could also help preserve cultural artifacts or historically significant relics. The compound can also be combined with polymers to give them UV-blocking capabilities.

The scientists have not determined how long the UV-absorbing coating could last, but they intend to continue working on developing additional materials with UV-reducing properties.

Glassprimer™ glass paint offers exceptional UV-resistance, which makes it suitable for use in areas that receive significant sunlight exposure. Glassprimer™ glass paint will not fade, peel or chip when applied according to manufacturer instructions. Glassprimer™ is warranted for interior use, however the paint can be applied to exterior surfaces, and will offer exceptional performance, even in high-UV conditions.

Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in a wide range of colors, and can be matched to the paint palette of virtually any paint manufacturer. This allows you to match household paints with Glassprimer™ glass paint without worrying about issues with color-matching.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Csaba Szabo, via FreeImages.com