The new two-level store, expected to open in December, will be located in Crystals, CityCenter’s 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Rockwell Group. On both the inside and out, glass was a significant design element. In fact, the store will feature an 85-foot-high glass façade that cants slightly over the street to resemble a diamond. Once inside, visitors will find a crystalline stone and glass staircase lit from beneath to emphasize the curve of the stairs that shine through the glass façade.

Of course, there are also large panels of glass that you can gaze through to take in all the glitzy scenery Las Vegas has to offer. For others, though, I would bet they’re more enthralled by the scenery that will be available inside the store, rather than what’s out on the strip.

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I would have to guess that a lot of us out there would like to design our own dream building, created with our favorite things in mind. As in this case, Tiffany & Co. itself designed the new Las Vegas store, and based on the details, from the diamond-like façade to the sparkly staircase, it’s easy to see the distinctive characteristics and features that reflect the store’s heritage.

And on that note, you tell me: if you were to design your very own building-one that reflected your style, tastes, likes and dislikes-what kind of structure would it be? The sky’s the limit these days when it comes to design. So don’t be shy and let me knwo what you think. As for me? I’ll take a diamond store any day, thank you very much.

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Remember our discussion concerning temperature gradients and the fact that … ah nuts, let me just repeat it here: “A general ‘rule of thumb’ is that a gradient of 40° F is sufficient to result in a probability of glass breakage of 8 lites per thousand. With the popular high performance tinted and coated glass products in use today, temperature gradients of 60° or more are easily possible.”

We all know about the popularity of today’s high performance low-E coatings and high performance tinted glass. And, of course, they are often used in combination to create even better performance. They are great products that save energy, improve occupant comfort and offer pleasing aesthetics. They also absorb and/or reflect a high percentage of the incident solar energy. When they absorb the energy, they get hot; and when they get hot the scene is set for very high thermal stress to be created in the glass and for breakage to occur. In order to minimize thermal stress breakage, the specified glass type must be sufficiently strong.

Allow me to use an analogy based on cars. If you want a sedate family sedan with a gas efficient 4 or 6 cylinder engine, then typical “S” rated tires are sufficient. If you step up to a sport sedan with a super-charged V-6, or performance V-8, then you will need a “U” or “H” rated tire. If you really have a “mid-life crisis” and decide you need a real “barn-burner” - say a Dodge Challenger, or my favorite - the Chevy Camaro with the 426 HP engine - then you’ll be looking at “V” or “W” rated tires. The ratings relate to the ability of the tire to provide stability and durability to be able to safely run at higher speeds.

Now, back to glass: If clear glass or a lightly tinted glass (the family sedan) is used, then annealed glass is likely to be sufficient to resist thermal stress in typical design conditions; but if high performance tinted glass, or coated glass or a combination of both (the “barn-burner”) is used, then it is very likely that strengthened glass will be required to resist the thermal stress.

I have been and continue to be amazed at how often expensive, high performing glass products are specified and used, but fabricated with annealed glass. Believe me, I know the reasons why it’s done, but this is truly a case of “pay now, or pay a lot more later.” The additional cost of strengthening the glass is but a fraction of the total cost of the wall system and is cheap insurance when compared to the cost of replacing glass after the building is completed and occupied.

We all know the old saying: “The right tool for the right job.” Well, use the right glass for the right application!

A final word: Recall that in my previous blog I pointed out that heat strengthened glass is approximately twice as strong as annealed - plenty strong enough to resist the thermal stress generated in any practical application. And, if it does break, for whatever reason, properly heat strengthened glass is much more likely to remain in the opening than tempered glass. Also, properly heat strengthened glass is not susceptible to spontaneous breakage. It is, in my opinion, a better option than tempered glass for all but safety glazing applications, or where tempered glass is specifically required by code.

Enough said. We’ll go on to something new next time.

Designed by international architectural firm RMJM, Duke-NUS, the first collaboration of its kind in Singapore between two of the world’s top higher education institutions, Duke University in the United States and National University of Singapore. The building officially opened September 28 by the country’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. RMJM North America served as the design consultant; CPG Consultants Pte. Ltd of Singapore served as the architect.

“We designed this new medical school in response to Duke University’s and National University of Singapore’s mission to educate students according to Duke’s innovative method to develop doctors that excel in medical research, education and patient care,” says Steven K. Gifford, managing principal of RMJM’s Global Health and Science Studio.

The Dean of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Professor Ranga Krishnan commenting on the architecture said: “The building’s design features are a perfect complement to our unique educational effort and in harmony with our innovative research program.”

At 26,000 square meters and 11 stories tall, Duke-NUS is a “vertical campus,” housing research offices, wet and dry laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, a library, student lounges, a café and administrative offices.

“CityCenter is a model of innovation, and we are very happy to be part of it,” said Beth O. Canavan, executive vice president of Tiffany & Co. “We have designed a store that honors the vision of world-renowned architects and urban planners, and at the same time reflects our heritage of quality and craftsmanship.”

The interior of the two-level store is a celebration of movement and light. Reflections of the gleaming gold and sterling silver jewelry multiply in a mirrored wall etched with a vertical pattern of pinstripes, and another wall covered with an iridescent purple fabric that extends the full 85 feet to the store’s ceiling. Each step on the crystalline stone and glass staircase is lit from beneath, emphasizing the curve of the stairs that shine through the glass façade.

The store’s second level features a gallery of crystal-covered walls, with column vitrines of bronze-frosted mirrors and designated areas for eyewear, leather accessories and charms. The private sales salon is accessed via a glass bridge that is 10 feet long and hovers 25 feet over the floor below.
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“Buildings are currently responsible for 40 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Given this, architects play a critical role in the sustainability movement,” said Marty Low, chief executive officer of SRS Energy. “We designed this course to provide architects with a foundational understanding of photovoltaic technology and products. The program equips architects with a comprehensive knowledge base and analysis tools for specifying photovoltaic systems in their projects.”

Learning objectives for the program include:

·A high-level overview of PV technology and products.

·An analysis of energy trends in homes and buildings - both internationally and in the United States - and the role that PV systems play or are projected to play.

·Basic vocabulary and industry jargon.

·LEED Certification with PV.

·A step-by-step foundation for evaluating and specifying the appropriate PV product and system for a project.

“Solar has been an aftermarket tech-driven purchase for too long. To truly integrate solar into our homes and buildings, we have to go beyond the product,” added Low. “This continuing education course is one of the many ways in which SRS Energy is engaging key stakeholders in construction, design and architecture as we bring our products to market.”

“[On October 5] President Barack Obama signed the Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance executive order that will help federal agencies meet carbon emission reduction goals advocated by the AIA and passed by Congress in 2007. The AIA strongly supports Administration efforts to achieve carbon-neutral federal facilities by 2030, which is consistent with the AIA public policy committing architects to the same goal and timeframe,” says Christine McEntee, executive vice president/CEO of the AIA. “We are concerned, however, that the executive order may lead to carbon emission reporting and tracking requirements on federal contractors that go beyond what most companies, especially small architecture firms, are able to perform. The AIA stands ready to work with the Administration to ensure that any tracking and reporting provisions adhere to existing guidelines and best practices, such as those found in the AIA 2030 Commitment program. Architecture firms demonstrate compliance with the 2030 Commitment by instituting sustainable business practices.

“We also believe that any long-term strategy for improving the sustainability and performance of federal buildings must address a growing shortage of licensed, trained architects and engineers in the federal workforce. We look forward to working with the administration to address these issues.”

“We always consider the history of the site we are building on at the beginning of every project,” says Serge Appel, an architect with Cook+Fox Architects LLP in New York. “We discovered that our mid-town site was across the street from one of the most famous glass buildings in our history- the New York Crystal Palace.” Built in 1853 in Bryant Park for the World’s Fair, the building was the first glass and steel building in America and considered by many to be “an architectural masterpiece.” While the building was tragically destroyed by fire in 1858, the Cook+Fox was inspired by the design of the structure.

Rising 55 stories into the Mid-Manhattan skyline, the Bank of America 945-foot skyscraper will house 2.1 million square feet of office space and is expected to be the first LEED Platinum building in the city. The exterior wall is a clear glass curtainwall by Permasteelisa with glass fabricated by Viracon.

The crystal-like appearance of the new building, which is achieved with sculptural glass facets, was designed to harken back to the angular nature of the original Palace. The architects tapped into multiple glass technologies to achieve the shimmer and shine that characterizes Bank of America tower. A low iron glass was used with a VE-2M coating to give the building its crystalline, clear appearance.

But history also posed challenges of a classic glass problem in buildings: solar heat gain. The New York Crystal Palace was designed as a counterpart to the famed London Crystal Palace, which was constructed entirely from clear glass, which created heat problems, according to historical records. The New York Crystal Palace team sidestepped this by using an early form of ceramic frit, which was painted on with a brush and fired in kiln.
Architects with Cook+Fox faced the same challenge.

“Ceramic fritting was really the process that helped us meet the stringent LEED energy requirements for this building,” says Appel. The glass is floor to ceiling with a white graduated frit, similar to that in a car windshield. “At eye level, the glass is completely clear to provide stunning views of Bryant Park and Times Square,” says Appel. “We were pleasantly surprised that the frit ‘disappears’ as you look outwards from the building.”

He adds, “Even though this is the second tallest building in New York, this is one of the few skyscrapers you can see in its entirety as you stand in Bryant Park.”

Because people would be looking through the glass to watch the event below, glass selection was critical. Blankenship had previously worked with glazing consultant Hank Chamberlain with Allied Glass Experts in Kansas City, Kan., on the skyboxes at Neyland Stadium, the University of Tennessee’s football stadium, and his past recommendation seemed on target.

“We’d used a Schott glass with the Amiran (anti-reflective) coating,” Blankenship says. “Now, we had another application in another sporting arena where we could see there could problems with the glare and how it could be distracting.”

Because optical performance was critical, the glass used had to provide clear views.

“Heat-treated glass looks good in [monolithic] applications, but when you laminate multiple lites–and in this case it was necessary to have at least three lites–it becomes difficult to maintain good optical performance,” Chamberlain says. The make-up consisted of 1 1/8-inch thick, low-iron, annealed, triple-laminated glass that has the Schott anti-reflective coating on both surfaces.

In addition, the glass also features a black opacifier on the bottom part that was added by GlassKote USA in Bridgeport, Conn. Because the guardrails are a structurally glazed system the opacifier was used to hide all of the mechanics and attachments.

“The design of this project called for [our product] to be used to coat the bottom section of each glass panel in order to hide the building infrastructure behind it,” explains Warren Belkin a principal with GlassKote USA. “A special metal extrusion was siliconed behind our coating to hold each glass panel in place, preventing it from falling out and landing on the spectators below. This application involved very serious structural considerations in the bond holding the metal extrusion to the glass. It also represented a completely new aesthetic design that was not attempted in the United States prior to this project.”

Being such a unique application, Belkin says his company encountered a few challenges.

“We had to verify that the GlassKote product would perform properly in this application. Also, the coating requirements were very stringent, requiring some specialized processes. For example, we applied an opacified section to each piece of glass and held the dividing line to within 1/16-inch tolerance across and 11-foot long piece of glass.”

Being a structural silicone system, the design was unique.

“To the best of our knowledge this was the first and possibly only silicone structural guardrail/balustrade application in North America,” says Chamberlain. “That doesn’t require as much courage as one might think, especially in an indoor application because it’s not exposed to weathering,” he says, adding that Momentive Performance Materials, formerly GE Silicones, was the supplier of the silicone adhesives. “The support is uniform linearly and there is nothing involved that increases stresses on the glass.”

Before the system could be constructed, though, there were a number of considerations.
“[We had to design for] both the height of the guardrail to keep people from falling and also the structural impact loads that they have to withstand,” Blankenship says.

As the popularity of glass handrails and balustrades for sporting venues continues to accelerate, there are several considerations to take into account.

“Qualify contractors carefully before you entrust someone to do a silicone structural guard balustrade or similar application,” says Chamberlain. “Before you hang glass out over the heads of a crowd and before you rely on it to keep people from falling off the edge of a walking surface be sure that those who are going to execute that design are capable of executing it properly. Be sure that those who are engineering it have a lot of experience in what they are doing in not only glass and glass mechanical properties, but in adhesives and their designs.”

Watch for the September-October issue of the Architects’ Guide to Glass & Metal for a more in-depth look at the Thompson-Boling Arena project.

Ott’s design called for a 51-floor tower enveloped in a pure glass skin. Instead of a standard squared crown, Ott envisioned a radius curtainwall that arched back into the building.
“The architectural elements of the façade would not have been captured as eloquently with a window wall system,” says Andrew Richards, owner’s representative at Fortune International. “The curtainwall design allows the building to be viewed as planes rather than only three dimensionally.”

“While curtainwall is often used in buildings such as offices and hotels, condominiums are usually window wall,” adds Maria Caleyo, project manager at Permasteelisa North America. “This is the first time we’ve worked on an impact condo curtainwall. Together with Viracon, we worked with the architectural team from the very beginning of the project to create the unique framing and glass system.”
Permasteelisa’s Miami team immediately set out to design the custom curtainwall system, which had to meet stringent hurricane code requirements and support durable impact resistant glass. While they focused on the frame, Viracon tackled the glass.
“With more than 300,000 square feet of external glass, selecting the right colors and coatings was critical,” says Jeff Rigot, Viracon’s architectural representative for Florida. “Not only did the glass need to create a very specific aesthetic, but it also needed to provide exceptional hurricane and energy performance and meet Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Turtle Codes.”

Architects and owners wanted the building to evoke a subtle “sparkle” effect and wanted occupants to have a comfortable living experience. With Viracon’s help, the team ultimately opted to use two colors of glass to create distinct vertical lines on the façade, while providing owners with an energy efficient living environment.
Gray glass with a low-E coating, Viracon’s VH13-50 product, was chosen for bands, which primarily enclose living units. The gray bands are alternated with a royal blue reflective glass, the company’s VT-40 product. This reflective coating gives the glass a mirror-like appearance and reduces solar heat gain through high solar reflection.
A Saflex PVB interlayer was incorporated into the glass throughout the curtainwall to meet impact requirements. The protective interlayer was also incorporated into the sliding door systems that were created and installed by Continental Glass Systems in Miami.

 
Located in the heart of Bellevue’s central business district, the Hines Expedia Tower is home to Expedia’s corporate office, which moved there at the end of 2008.

 
LMN designed the building with a focus on utilizing daylight to create the best possible work environment for tenants. A glass façade and full-height windows maximize views west to Lake Washington and the Olympics, south to Mt. Rainier, and east to the Cascades. Tenants of the Hines Expedia Tower also have access to the tower’s half-acre outdoor plaza, which is landscaped with native, drought-tolerant plants.

 
“Many people don’t realize that measures taken to work in concert with the environment often benefit those working inside the facility as well,” says Walt Niehoff, partner at LMN. “A cleaner, more enjoyable indoor environment improves not only the health of workers, but also their creativity, productivity, morale and essentially the bottom line of their employers.”

 
International real estate firm Hines, the building’s owner and developer, is well known for its commitment to sustainable building and development. One of the key concerns for Hines with the design of the Hines Expedia Tower was to optimize the life-cycle costs associated with building operation.

 
“In the sustainable design for this project, there is no single feature that stands out from the others,” says Ty Bennion of Hines. “Instead, the project is notable for all of the small moves that contributed to the end result. Thanks to the genuine commitment from each and every project partner, we were able to reach the Gold level.”

 
The contractor contributed to the certification by recycling 89 percent of construction waste, as well as in the procurement of recycled building materials. Earlier this year, the Hines Expedia Tower earned the “Designed to Earn Energy Star®” mark, a new Energy Star program to encourage buildings in the design phase to exceed a benchmark energy performance threshold. And in early 2006, the project received the first LEED-CS (Core and Shell) pre-certification on the West Coast.

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