Top building products for April 2024

Advances in glazing materials and glass building systems offer a seemingly unlimited horizon for not only glass performance, but also for the size and extent of these light, transparent forms. Both for enclosures and for indoor environments, novel products and assemblies allow for more glass and less opaque structure—often in places that previously limited their use.

In the world of fine art, a master painter begins with canvas selection. A linen canvas is nearly always selected over cotton because nothing delivers the artist’s authentic vision quite like linen. Similarly, with glass.

Clear glass is extremely common and is popular for a variety of architectural design applications, including vision glass, spandrel glass, storefronts, entryways and other exterior uses. It is specified repeatedly due to its versatility and ability to serve as a substrate for solar control, low-emissivity (low-E) coatings. However, when specifying glass to achieve a desired aesthetic, design professionals know that clear glass isn’t completely clear.

The inaugural class of DOE’s Better Buildings Building Envelope Campaign includes a medical office building that uses hybrid vacuum-insulated glass and a net-zero concrete-and-timber community center.

In a summary judgement dated February 3, 2021, Chief Magistrate Joseph C. Spero of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the patent infringement claims filed by Ely Holdings Limited (Ely) and Greenlite Glass Systems (Greenlite) against SAFTI FIRST, a USA fire rated glass and framing manufacturer, could not proceed to trial, finding that the SAFTI FIRST’s fire resistant floor does not violate Ely’s patent.

Realizing sustainable, bird-friendly glass design

Glass has always been an idea generator. Now, it’s also a clean energy generator.

SOM and Fender Katsalidis are designing the project.