GreenPix is a solar power-harnessing, light-emitting facade system designed by Simone Giostra and Arup. Integrated with the curtain wall of the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing near the site of the 2008 Olympics, Greenpix features the largest color LED display on earth.
Greenpix behaves like an organic system, absorbing solar energy during the day and generating light from the same power that evening. Polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are laminated within the glass of the curtain wall and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin. The density pattern increases the building’s performance, allowing natural light when required by interior program, while reducing heat gain and transforming excessive solar radiation into energy for the media wall. [Researched by James Lu and Eric Phillips / Contact:
Simone Giostra & Partners, Inc., Dumbo, NY]
Labels: 08, glass, light, transformational
Convex Glass was produced and developed by Nathan Allan Glass Studios with the architectural firms Jason/Goldstein and Front Inc. in New York. Exploiting the potential for enhanced dimensionality in glass, the product is produced in rectangular, square, and circular shapes and allows dimensional viewing from both sides.
Convex Glass can be produced in 1/4-inch (.6 cm), 3/8-inch (.95 cm), 1/2-inch (1.3 cm), 5/8-inch (1.6 cm), and 3/4-inch (1.9 cm) single-layered panels and can be safety tempered as well. It is available in clear and low-iron glass. Cast textures and privacy coatings are also available. For projects that require laminating, Nathan Allan has developed a new method of casting panels that enables resin laminating to be successfully applied.
Another new process by Nathan Allan is the Fire-Frost opacity coating. Looking similar to sandblasting in appearance, Fire-Frost has a permanent sealed finish that repels grease, dirt, and fingerprints and allows for easy cleaning. Fire-Frost coatings are used in both indoor and outdoor applications and provide extra layers of opacity to the glass. [Contact:
Nathan Allan Glass Studios Inc., Richmond, BC.]
Labels: 08, glass, multidimensional, window
Vector Glass combines the the precision of digital fabrication with the serendipity of handmade, kiln-formed glass. PadLAb works with architects and clients to translate vector patterns, drawings, text, and logos into custom-made panels of glass that contain controlled air-bubble imagery. The process begins by digitally incising the desired vector graphic into sheets of glass, which are layered and then fused into a uniform panel, indelibly trapping controlled air bubbles within the glass. The glass panels can be side lit to highlight the air-bubble images, patterns, and/or text frozen within the glass. [Contact:
padLAb, Los Angeles, CA.]
Labels: 08, air, glass, intelligent
Shanghai Kang Yu Jie Sen's Cast Glass Façades exhibit superior clarity, the highest refractive index of any architectural glass, and are suitable for use in interior or exterior applications. Cast Glass Façades are superior to stone in terms of weather resistance, staining, and background radiation. The product can be worked similar to float glass by bending, tempering, and laminating. The glass can be cast to achieve sharp lines as well as soft organic shapes, and the thickness allows for sophisticated multidimensional effects as well as a variety of color possibilities. [Contact:
Kang Yu Jie Sen, Shanghai, China.]
Labels: 08, facade, glass, ultraperforming
Extremely noisy environments near airports, roads, or loud entertainment centers pose acoustic challenges for building occupants, and typical windows cannot provide adequate protection against certain types of noise pollution. A double or triple layer of glass will absorb the high frequencies, but can do nothing against low-frequency noise such as that produced by aircraft or the bass tones of loud music.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF and Darmstadt University of Technology have recently developed a new type of soundproof window. "Tests have shown that our windows are capable of lowering noise levels by an average of six decibels at frequencies between 50 and 1000 hertz. The perceived noise indoors is only half as loud," says Dr. Thilo Bein, who manages the institute’s department of energy, environment and health. "We have even been able to reduce the volume of certain test signals by up to 15 decibels." The experts have predicted a reduction of up to 10 dB for the engine noise of passenger aircraft in the frequency range below 1000 Hz.
When noise waves meet the walls of a building, they can be propagated to the interior by various routes. One is by causing the windows to vibrate, thus carrying the noise into the building. The other is by transmitting sound waves to the interior via the bridges in the structure where the curtain-wall elements are attached to the frame of the building. In both cases, the researchers have found a way to prevent the propagation of sound energy. Acceleration sensors attached to the window panes measure the vibrations generated by the noise. A thin chip of piezoelectric material also attached to the window counteracts the vibration by generating an oscillation at the same pitch but in the opposite sense to that measured by the sensor – causing the pane to move in the opposing direction. "We have devised a similar solution for the points where the outer cladding is attached to the frame of the building. In this case, a stack of piezoelectric chips, rather than a single piezoelectric strip, counteracts the impinging force," says Bein.
The researchers presented a prototype of the new soundproof window at the Hannover Fair in April. According to Bein’s estimations, the new active noise-reducing windows could be on the market in about four years’ time. [via the Fraunhofer Institute; suggested by James Thornburg, Columbus.]
Labels: 08, acoustic, intelligent, soundproof, window
GreenPix is a solar power-harnessing, light-emitting facade system designed by Simone Giostra and Arup. Integrated with the curtain wall of the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing near the site of the 2008 Olympics, Greenpix features the largest color LED display on earth.
