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
The Fusionstone proprietary process involves ultra-clear glass permanently fused to exotic stone slabs to achieve superior surface protection while retaining and showcasing the beauty of natural stone. It eliminates adhesion lines, and the material appears entirely translucent from edge to edge. As a result, natural stone can be used in applications where it was once prohibited because intrusion of natural and chemical substances into porous marbles, sandstones, and limestones is completely prevented. LED lighting can also be integrated into Fusionstone for additional aesthetic enhancement. [Contact:
Architectural Systems, Inc., New York.]
Labels: 09, glass, recombinant, stone
Advantic is a syntactic foam made by mixing or combining hollow glass microspheres with an epoxy resin. This high-strength composite solves many of the problems associated with other common tooling materials. Cornerstone Research Group (CRG) Industries’s proprietary mixing process minimizes the number of microspheres that break during mixing, a common problem in manufacturing syntactic materials. This process enables Advantic to maintain low density with high uniformity and minimum void content.
Because Advantic is lightweight, it reduces wear and tear on machining equipment. It also has low thermal conductivity and specific heat, so it requires little warm-up time and virtually eliminates plug sticking during thermoforming. Advantic is dimensionally stable and will keep its shape over a wide range of temperatures. The material can also be machined using standard carbide-tipped tools in sheet-fed, rotary, or in-line machines for a variety of applications.
Advantic is available in small or large lots of customized material with custom properties. CRG Industries can customize properties such as compressive strength, flexure strength, material density, operational temperature, chemical resistance, electrical properties, thermoconductivity, water absorption, and surface finish. [Contact:
CRG Industries, Dayton, OH.]
Labels: 06, foam, glass, material, ultraperforming
Bloomframe is a window frame that can be transformed into a balcony. Designed by Amsterdam-based Hofman Dujardin Architects, the Bloomframe balcony offers a flexible living environment by making it possible to extend the domain of one's facade. In this way, the dynamic balcony enables adding outdoor space to compact apartments in urban high-rise areas.
The Bloomframe balcony can be operated automatically in one movement and with one control. The system includes provisions to guarantee collapse safety during opening and closing, and the drive consists of an rpm-controlled electric motor that operates the balcony at two points via an auto-braking reduction (drop safety). The movement is transferred by tie rods from these linear guides. The fully open position is limited mechanically, which guarantees optimum safety of the converted balcony. The application of a combined powered / mechanical movement makes the system user-friendly and easy to open and close for everyone. [via Hofman Dujardin Architecten; suggested by Corrie Messinger, Columbus, OH.]
Labels: 11, balcony, glass, metal, transformational, window
By using a thin film of magnesium-titanium alloy, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has produced a switchable mirror that can be easily transformed between reflective and transparent states. The mirror window is 60 x 70 cm in size, and has been designed to reduce energy consumed by air conditioning systems in buildings and automobiles by over 30%.
In the development of early prototypes, Kazuki Yoshimura and his team focused on the use of thin films made of magnesium-nickel alloy that behave as switchable mirrors. Unfortunately, these first versions all had a yellow tinge in their transparent state. The newly developed thin film, however, is made of an alloy of magnesium and titanium, which does not turn yellow in its current configuration. The switchable mirror consists of two layers of glass enclosing a cavity and coated on their interior surfaces with the alloy film. A gas that contains hydrogen at a low concentration of about 1% or oxygen at a concentration of about 20% is introduced to the cavity to activate the switching behavior. [via AIST; suggested by Dace Campbell, Seattle.]
Labels: 8, glass, mirror, transformational
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.
