Daylighting, codes and structural glazing top discussions at Architectural Glazing Summit

About 100 attendees gathered at the W Hotel in San Francisco for the first Architectural Glazing Summit, Oct. 26. Safti First, San Francisco, presented the event with co-sponsors, Schott North America Inc., Elmsford, N.Y.; Viracon, Owatonna, Minn.; Wausau Window and Wall Systems, Wausau, Wis.; and W&W Glass, Nanuet, N.Y. The half-day educational conference, directed toward area architects and specifiers, included multiple sessions where attendees could earn American Institute of Architects/Continuing Education Systems learning units, Health, Safety, & Welfare and Sustainability Design credits. About two-thirds of the attendees came from the architectural community, and a third from the glass industry, including many local glass installers, according to Diana San Diego, director of marketing, Safti First.

"More and more people are designing with glass on the exterior and interior of the building, and as an industry, we need to educate the design community about developments and new technologies," San Diego said.

Don McCann, manager, architectural design group, Viracon, started off the day with "Daylighting and Integrated Fa?ade Design" about the variables, components and benefits of daylighting design. Jeff Haber, managing partner, W&W Glass, followed with "Innovations in Structural Glass" about the history, developments and applications in structural glass. Tim Nass, national sales manager, Safti First, presented "Code Considerations in Fire-Rated Glass" that covered the differences in fire-protective and fire-rated glass products and information about the fire codes and test requirements. Keith Lindberg, regional sales manager, Wausau Window and Wall Systems, concluded the day's presentations with "Understanding U-Factors" about fenestration attributes that affect U-factor, as well as differences between window certification programs.

Attendees interviewed said they came away with good information about advancements in the glass industry and were pleased with the summit.

"Our firm does a lot of work with glass—we handle the Apple stores," said attendee Denis Schofield, associate, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, San Francisco. "We work to do innovative work in glass in all types of applications, from residential to institutional, and these types of educational seminars can be very helpful."

Maria Danielides, also an associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, said she was very interested in the safety glazing aspects of the seminars, including information Haber provided about potential for nickel sulfide inclusions in non-heat soaked tempered products.

Haber said the event was very successful for W&W. "It's difficult in a big city like this to reach this many highly qualified architects in such a short period of time. It would take us 6 months and cost 10 times as much to reach all the firms represented if we were seeing them all individually," he said. "Additionally, it's good to get a chance to spend time with architects outside of their offices and talk to them about what's going on in the industry."

San Diego said Safti First will likely put on similar Architectural Glazing Summits in other cities nationwide, though there are currently no finalized plans.