What Solar Control Glass Actually Does Solar control glass is designed to reduce the amount of solar energy passing through the glazing and contributing to heat inside the building. That becomes particularly relevant where architecture uses large areas of glass to bring in daylight, open up views and create a stronger connection with the landscape. […]
18
Aug
Aug
Where the Green Colour in Glass Comes From Glass is transparent, but that does not mean it is completely colourless. Standard clear architectural glass naturally has a subtle green appearance, and the main reason is the small amount of iron present within the raw materials used to manufacture it. For most conventional windows, this colour […]
18
Aug
Aug
The Fundamental Difference: What Happens When the Glass Breaks? The clearest way to understand the difference between toughened and laminated glass is not simply to ask which one is stronger. It is to ask a more useful question: what happens if the glass actually breaks? Toughened glass has undergone a controlled heat-treatment process that changes […]
18
Aug
Aug
What Is a Low-E Coating? Low-E stands for low emissivity. In practical terms, a low-E coating is an extremely thin engineered layer incorporated into the glazing to help reduce the transfer of radiant heat through the glass. It can have a significant influence on thermal performance while remaining visually subtle within the finished window or […]
17
Aug
Aug
What Does “Tolerance” Actually Mean in Glazing? In architectural glazing, tolerance describes the dimensional variation that needs to be anticipated when different parts of a building come together. A drawing may show an opening with precise dimensions and perfectly straight lines, but the physical building is assembled from structural steel, masonry, concrete, timber, finishes and […]
17
Aug
Aug
Why Would Glass Need to Be Craned in the First Place? Large-format glazing does not automatically require a crane. Many substantial glass units can be installed using other professionally determined handling methods, depending on their dimensions, weight and the conditions of the site. Specialist lifting becomes relevant when the combination of the glass itself and […]
17
Aug
Aug
Large Glass Is Not Delivered Like an Ordinary Window Oversized architectural glazing may look remarkably simple once installed, but getting it into position can be a significant construction exercise. As panels become larger, they generally become heavier and more demanding to handle, changing the way they need to be transported, unloaded and moved around the […]
17
Aug
Aug
What Does Deflection Actually Mean? Deflection is the term used to describe the movement or bending of a structural element when it is subjected to load. A steel beam spanning above a large sliding-door opening may appear completely rigid, but in structural terms it is not necessarily motionless. As loads are applied, a degree of […]
14
Aug
Aug
A Structural Opening Is Not Just a Hole for the Glass One of the most common misconceptions with large-format glazing is that the structure can be designed first and the glass simply made to fit the opening afterwards. At a basic level, that sounds reasonable: the engineer establishes a structurally suitable opening, the steelwork is […]
14
Aug
Aug
A Corner Is Not Just Something That Gets in the Way of the View When designing a highly glazed extension or contemporary home, it is easy to see the corner as an obstruction. Two large areas of glass might offer an uninterrupted view of the garden or landscape, only for a vertical post at their […]
14
Aug
Aug
A Corner Is Not Just Something That Gets in the Way of the View When designing a highly glazed extension or contemporary home, it is easy to see the corner as an obstruction. Two large areas of glass might offer an uninterrupted view of the garden or landscape, only for a vertical post at their […]
14
Aug
Aug
What Does “Corner Glazing Without a Post” Actually Mean? One of the most common misconceptions around postless corner glazing is that the corner is somehow constructed without a frame or supporting structure. In reality, “postless” usually describes what we see rather than everything that is happening within the construction. A conventional glazed corner typically uses […]
13
Aug
Aug
The Problem Usually Starts With a Good Idea Rooflight overheating rarely begins with an obviously unreasonable design decision. More often, it begins with something entirely desirable: a brighter interior, a stronger connection with the sky and more daylight reaching parts of a home that conventional windows cannot easily serve. Consider a typical contemporary extension. Large […]
13
Aug
Aug
A “Flat” Rooflight Still Has to Manage Water The word flat can create a misleading impression when discussing rooflights. Architecturally, a flat rooflight may appear as a simple sheet of glass sitting almost effortlessly within the roof. Rainwater, however, still needs somewhere to go. The visual simplicity of the finished glazing does not remove the […]
13
Aug
Aug
Daylight From Above Behaves Differently Daylight entering through a roof does not behave in quite the same way as daylight entering through a wall. A conventional window creates an outward relationship, connecting the interior with a garden, street or landscape beyond. Its view is predominantly towards the horizon. A rooflight turns that relationship upwards, introducing […]
13
Aug
Aug
Rooflights and Roof Lanterns Create Different Kinds of Space Rooflights and roof lanterns are often discussed as alternative ways of achieving the same objective: bringing more daylight into a room from above. Yet their architectural effect can be markedly different. The distinction is not simply one of appearance on the roof. Each changes the relationship […]
12
Aug
Aug
The Problem With Comparing One Number Against Another Sightline figures are appealing because they appear to make comparison straightforward. Place two glazing brochures side by side, find the published dimensions and the system with the smaller number seems to offer the more minimal result. A difference of only a few millimetres can begin to look […]
12
Aug
Aug
Why There Is No Single Maximum Glass Size The question of how large a single pane of glass can be appears to invite a simple answer: a maximum width, a maximum height, perhaps a maximum overall area. In architectural glazing, however, those dimensions rarely exist as universal limits. The realistic size of a pane emerges […]
12
Aug
Aug
Minimalism Removes Visual Complexity, Not Technical Complexity The appeal of a minimal sliding system lies partly in how little of the system appears to remain. Large panes of glass replace conventional areas of framing, vertical divisions become increasingly restrained, and tracks or perimeter frames may be integrated into the surrounding architecture. The completed elevation can […]
11
Aug
Aug
Why Slimmer Does Not Automatically Mean Colder It is easy to assume that making a glazing frame slimmer must come at the expense of thermal performance. The reasoning appears intuitive: if there is less visible frame around the glass, there must surely be less material available to resist heat transfer. In practice, however, sightline and […]
11
Aug
Aug
Why Sightline Is an Aesthetic Metric, Not a Performance Rating Sightline dimensions are useful because they describe something immediately visible. When two glazed panels meet, the width of the framing between them contributes directly to the character of the elevation, and it is understandable that architects and homeowners use this measurement when comparing minimal glazing […]
11
Aug
Aug
Why There Is No Single Minimum Sightline At first glance, asking how slim a glazing sightline can be seems as though it should have a straightforward numerical answer. Contemporary glazing systems are often discussed in terms of increasingly narrow profiles, making it natural to compare one dimension with another. The difficulty is that a sightline […]
11
Aug
Aug
Why Architects Pursue Slimmer Sightlines The appeal of slim sightlines is easy to understand. In contemporary architecture, glazing is often intended to do more than bring daylight into a room; it is used to establish a visual relationship between the interior, the landscape and the wider setting of the building. As glazed openings become larger, […]
10
Aug
Aug
Listed Doesn’t Automatically Mean “No Contemporary Glass” The word listed can sometimes create the impression that a historic building must remain frozen at a particular moment in time. For homeowners considering an extension or alteration, this can lead to an understandable assumption that contemporary materials—particularly large areas of structural glass—will automatically be incompatible with the […]