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Tag Archive for: Glass Building

Wright’s Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

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Wright's Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

Wright’s Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

Architects’ designs are at times both pragmatic and fanciful. Frank Lloyd Wright was no exception. In 1956, Chicago and other cities were struggling with their growing populations, and a finite amount of space in which to house them and their businesses. Wright’s solution, which many believed was ahead of its time, was to build up using glass.

Wright introduced his Mile High Illinois Tower just two years before he died, but he was serious about building it. Following his death, the project lost its biggest champion, and to date it hasn’t been built. The world’s tallest building is nowhere near Wright’s proposed maximum height, but just as Wright envisioned it, today’s tallest buildings rely heavily on glass. Read more

Washington Monument Gets Glass Addition

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The National Park Service, which oversees the operations of the Washington Monument, has approved a glass design for a visitor screening center at the base of the structure. The monument is currently closed for repairs and renovations until 2019. When the site reopens, visitors will enter the monument through a 27′ x 30′ entrance, which replaces a temporary structure added following the 9/11 attacks.

The new structure will hold about 2 dozen visitors at a time and will use bulletproof glass. According to the Park Service, the building will use tinted or fritted glass to reduce solar heat gain in the structure. Read more

NYU’s Billion-Dollar Glass Building

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NYU's Billion-Dollar Glass Building

NYU’s Billion-Dollar Glass Building

Construction is expensive anywhere, but construction costs in New York City are astronomical. It should come as little surprise, therefore, that NYU’s newest academic building will cash out at a cool $1B. The building, known as 181 Mercer Street, will have nearly 750,000 square feet of space and will feature a swimming pool, a gym, multiple theaters, student and faculty housing, classroom space and practice space, all tucked behind an all-glass façade.

The all-glass façade is both practical and symbolic. When the university sought to expand its footprint beyond its current campus, its plans were met with stiff opposition from its nearby neighbors. The issue was litigated and the University prevailed. The all-glass façade is meant to help heal the rift that was opened between the University and the surrounding community, some members of which wanted the land to be used as a park. As a nod to the community, the building will also feature about 8,000 square feet of space designated for community or public use.

The University acquired the space on which the new building will sit in the 1960’s. To create enough space for the new “super building”, the University needed to demolish an existing recreation building, which was completed in August 2016.

Even though the new building’s size seems immense, it’s actually only about 80% of what the city would allow on a parcel of that size. The building’s glass façade will provide a significant amount of natural light. It will also have a “green roof” and low-flow plumbing, as well as a rainwater runoff retention system.

According to NYU, the building is much needed and long overdue. While the facility does replace an athletic and recreation building, it also expands the available instructional space and relieve currently overcrowded classrooms. According to NYU, the building will be ready for use in 2021.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For 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: Joe Mannion, via Flickr.com

Trapezoidal glass building opens in Beijing

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Trapezoidal glass building opens in Beijing

Trapezoidal glass building opens in Beijing

Architects are hyper-focused on energy efficiency in new construction, and glass plays a major role in that goal. A new approach to glass building design in the Beijing Greenland Center may help conserve energy while providing a unique appearance. Chicago-based architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) recently designed a glass building that uses trapezoidal glass panels to control the way sunlight enters the building.

Glass building designs display creativity

The Beijing Greenland Center is a 55-story mixed use commercial and residential space. The building’s glass façade was inspired by a bas relief technique and features angled trapezoidal panels with alternating orientations. The visual effect, when viewed from the ground, makes the building appear somewhat like a cheese grater. Thanks to the self-shading façade, the building’s solar heat gain is reduced. SOM aimed to reduce the building’s energy consumption by 30% compared to its similarly situated flat-façade neighbors, but the jury is still out on exactly how energy efficient the new design is.

SOM has been involved in a number of innovative glass building designs that experiment with shape and positioning to control solar gain without sacrificing light transmission. SOM has designed a number of glass buildings in China, including the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, the Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Zifeng Tower in Nanchang, the Hebin Theater Performing Arts Center in Guiyang, the Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2 and the China World Trade Center 3A in Beijing, among others.

The company has also produced a number of landmark glass building projects in the United States, including 680 Folsom in San Francisco; 1 World Trade Center in New York City; 7 World Trade Center in New York City; the John Hancock Building in Chicago; Burr Street Elementary School in Fairfield, CT; Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland; CA and the New United States Courthouse in Los Angeles, CA.

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

Photo Credit: SOM, via FreeImages.com

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

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

Why glass is the new go-to building material

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Why glass is the new go-to building material

Why glass is the new go-to building material

The market for flat glass has grown steadily, and is expected to hit nearly 85 million metric tons by 2020. Glass is widely used in a number of industries, including construction (for both residential and commercial buildings), new and replacement windows, the automotive industry, and more recently, alternative energy.

Glass goes from high gloss to high performance

While the number of buildings with glass exteriors has grown substantially since the 1970’s, glass is fast becoming the new rising star in both energy efficiency and alternative energy. Demands for low-emissivity glass, self-cleaning glass and smart glass have all increased substantially.

The ability to control the admission of UV- and infrared light plays an important role in improving the energy efficiency of interior spaces and entire buildings. The use of specially formulated architectural glass will only increase as the pressure to become more energy-efficient increases.

It’s also making waves in interior design because it transmits natural light so well, offers a premium decorating surface and is environmentally friendly. Specialized coatings can also increase the energy-efficiency and performance of ordinary glass. For example, Glassprimer™ glass paint offers superior UV-resistance and can be matched to virtually any color in any major paint manufacturer’s palette.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially formulated to create a permanent bond with the glass surface. Once cured, it will not delaminate, peel, crack or fade, even under harsh conditions. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used to create special frosted effects on glass. True frosted glass is created by etching or sandblasting, which microscopically damages the surface of the glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint can create a frosted effect without damaging the glass. In addition, any color can be used to create “frosted” glass. True frosted glass isn’t colored, unless the glass itself is also colored.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is ideal for creating backpainted surfaces, and it’s more economical per square foot than colored or frosted glass. If you’d like more information about decorating with Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Maja Fabczak, via FreeImages.com

Innovation in Glass Architecture

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The glass industry has experienced a revolution bordering on a renaissance over the past few years. The introduction of new technologies has made it possible to mold glass in different ways, change the aesthetics through glass painting, and use it successfully in various applications ranging from construction to mobile phone technology. Read more