Top building products for August 2023

BD+C Editors break down 15 of the top building products this month, from frameless windscreens to smart fixture mount sensors.

Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass) has published updated versions of its Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for both flat and processed glass. These updates reaffirm that Vitro’s glass products contain less embodied carbon than the industry standard for architectural glass products and indicate a lower embodied carbon value than previously reported in 2017 editions of these EPDs.

The National Glass Association (NGA) is pleased to announce the publication of a new technical resource, Fire-Rated Glazing 101. This five-page document addresses how to incorporate fire-rated glazing systems in a manner that not only provides protection to building occupants from fire, but also considers other design goals, such as daylight, privacy and security.

BD+C editors are now accepting submissions for the annual 75 Top Building Products awards. The winners will be featured in the November/December 2023 issue of Building Design+Construction. 

Walter P Moore’s Darek Brandt discusses the key questions building owners and property managers should be asking to determine the health of their building's façade.  

The Biden Administration’s proposal on building materials rules used on federal construction and federally funded state and local buildings would significantly boost the made-in-America mandate. In the past, products could qualify as domestically made if at least 55% of the value of their components were from the U.S. 

New Horizon Urban Mining, a demolition firm in the Netherlands, has hitched its business model to construction materials recycling. It's plan: deconstruct buildings and infrastructure and sell the building products for reuse in new construction. New Horizon and its Founder Michel Baars have been named 2023 AEC Innovators by Building Design+Construction editors.

Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass) announced that it will be renaming three of its signature Solarban® solar control, low-emissivity (low-e) glass products at the beginning of 2023. While the products will have new names, the performance and visual characteristics of all three glasses will remain the same.