Post Time：Nov 06,2008Classify:Glass QuotationView：541
Glass is the dominating material in modern day architecture, which places optical emphases, and provides for numerous technical functions. Today, the glass industry offers glazing with individual technical features that can be used for heat, solar, or sound protection, as design components, safety glass, or as a part of solar systems. The main focus in building is usually on saving energy, especially in these challenging times of increasing prices for energy and raw materials. The strong differentiation between the technical functions in turn makes individual consultation even more important.
Glass is no longer just a filler element, but is rather nowadays also used for supporting or enveloping purposes. A closer examination of this multifunctional building material requires a look at its historical background and also at the fast developments of modern times.
An insight into the history of glass
Flat glass has been used as an enclosing element for approximately 2,000 years and is thus one the oldest man made building materials. Due to constant developments in manufacturing and refining methods, it is now also one of the most modern building materials, with an unparalleled influence on the appearance of our architecture. Now that this material can fulfil nearly any task in a modern building envelope, it has been made possible to overcome the antagonism between the human basic need for protection from the outside world and the demand for natural daylight.
Before industrialisation, flat glass was produced, e.g. by means manual methods such as casting or cylinder technology. These were replaced by sheet glass and plate glass manufacturing methods, which were used up until the 1960s. Machine methods had the disadvantage of distortion and waviness. The manufacturing of the higher quality plate glass was more expensive due to the necessary grinding and polishing. Although enormous improvements have been made for both methods over time, the disadvantages could not be totally eliminated. It became necessary to strike new paths in order to cover the increasing demand for high-quality flat glass. In the early 1950s the English company Pilkington Brothers developed an industrial solution for producing high quantities of large glass panes of a consistent high quality and at a relatively moderate cost, which was an almost entirely automated float glass manufacturing process. It was in this way that glass became a mass product and was thereby affordable for everybody. In the 1970s new energetic requirements arose, which were easily fulfilled by modern glass. Until then, single glazing was the standard but had the disadvantage of extremely high heat losses (Ug = 5.8 W/m2K). The development of insulated glazing and its quasi legally decreed use as of 1977 led to a drastically improved heat-insulating value of 3.0 W/m2K.
As a result of the oil crisis in the late 1970s, the glass architecture at that time was subject to increasing criticism. Uncoated flat glass was considered a waste of energy. An ecological and economical milestone for more energy efficiency was the manufacturing of heat and solar protection coatings by using thin film technology.
Interpane was one of the first companies to successfully market neutral heat protection coatings. One example is “iplus neutral” (since 1982): It is considered to be the first colour-neutral thermal insulating glass in glass history. The key to success was a special silver coating. This technology is now the basis for the manufacturing of high-quality thermal insulating glass.
Glass for windows and facades
“At the beginning is the desire to design, not the respective function. The function “slips in” (Professor Klaus Pracht, architect and author in Bad Muender am Deister.)
Apart from the primary purpose of a window, more and more additional features, mostly application and structural solutions, have been demanded. As a result, we now speak of functional glazing and facades.
Primary use (inter alia):
Secondary use (inter alia):
These purposes, which are characteristic for windows, can be achieved by means of special multifunctional designs. Sophisticated window and facade systems combine technical demands with the creative freedom of planning. Such systems are a challenge for architects and manufacturers. With the increasing demands on window and facade systems, the demands on the glazing also increase in terms of quality and versatility. Most requirements concern increased protection, which can only be achieved with modern functional insulation glazing. Multifunctional insulation glazing incorporates numerous such protective functions. One example is “iplus city E” for upscale residential construction. It incorporates effective heat insulation with an Ug value of 1.1 W/m2K, effective burglary resistance (safety class P4A), and good sound insulation up to 40 dB (in window: sound proofing level 3.)
Depending on the design requirements, the potential of glass is not only in increasing the transparency and, therefore, the quality of living, but it can also emphasise the vitality of reflecting surfaces and the presence of structures.
Even during the planning stage of a building, the technical performance of insulation glazing becomes ever more important. Whoever contracts out for windows and facades, has to provide the exact physical data as a part of the technical specifications. In order to be able to fulfil the versatile demands in accordance with the technical regulations, co-operation among the architects, engineers, planners, and manufacturers involved is a key factor, in which consultation becomes mandatory.
Outlook
The developments in the glass sector are not at all limited to its classic properties, such as energy savings and solar protection, but can also improve and change its stability and surface. Many times, nature is the role model, e.g. in the case of the lotus effect. Innovative solutions for decorative facade glazing are another favourite with planners. At glasstec 2008 (Messe Düsseldorf, October 21–25) Interpane showed the design glazing “ipachrome”, which offers new possibilities for creative object design by means of large-area or partial coating. The multi-layer system makes the glazing just as highly reflecting as a conventional silver mirror.
As product versatility increases, so does the need for architects, planners, and building owners to consult with the glass processor. Interpane Beratungscenter (IBC) in Plattling, Germany, as well as services architects, engineers, planners, processors, and institutional building owners are all reachable inside and outside of Germany by telephone or on-site. Apart from architectural and technical consulting for facade and window construction, they focus on training as well as national and international co-operation between architect consultants and consumers.
Source: Interpane Glas Industrie AGAuthor: shangyi
