Glass Industry Partners Elevate 400H
Collaborative Success: Guardian Glass North America, Press Glass Inc., and Charlotte Glass Contractors Team up on 400 Hillsborough Project in Raleigh, NC
Charlotte Glass Contractors, Guardian Glass, and Press Glass Inc. pull together as glass industry partners to align their respective services to fit the project specific requirements of 400H concerning budget, aesthetics, and performance.
Charlotte Glass Contractors serves the commercial, institutional, and renovations market as one of the top glass installation experts. Guardian Glass is one of the largest glass producers and innovators in the world. They have been creating new products for the glass industry since 1932.PRESS GLASS is a leading glass fabricator in Europe and in 2017 expanded its footprint to become a domestic high quality glass supplier in the US.
Challenge
1. Enhancing Building Aesthetics: Choosing the Perfect Glass
“The project was trying to launch during some pretty challenging times; the COVID years, which caused a lot of disruption in the commercial construction industry,” says Alan Kinder, Director of Commercial Demand Creation at Guardian Glass.
After the project started back up, it changed designer hands within Gensler, the catalyst that started a new discussion “… about if we wanted this project to have dark gray glass because the renderings were more reflective,” says Kinder.
Solution
“Early on Guardian Glass took time to understand what Gensler Architects’ aesthetic preference was and the energy modeling, as well as the general installation type,” Kinder notes. Guardian began working with Gensler again when the project started back up to find possible glass solutions to achieve the desired aesthetics and performance. During this time, their new SunGuard™ SNR 35 coating entered the market, which is an eye-catching, reflective coating with a 0.17 solar heat gain coeficient. As fate would have it, this double-silver coating most closely matched the project renderings.
2. It Fit the Bill
“We [Guardian Glass] made a quality glass coating, but we could not have gotten that on this project without the tremendous capabilities of Press Glass Inc., both in terms of fabrication capabilities and project coordination that understands what it takes to deliver a job of this scale on a timeline” says Kinder. Once the decision was made to change the coating to SNR 35, PRESS GLASS was actively involved in the quoting process as well as securing the requested timeline.
Ultimately, SNR 35 coated glass checked all the boxes for the 400H project in aesthetics, performance, and budget. And 400H is one of the first projects it was used in the market.
Press Glass has a long-standing partnership with Guardian and Charlotte Glass and it was this partnership that helped them secure the 400H job. With the new coating being selected, “it was important for Press Glass to be the fabricator to ensure the insulated glass units were fabricated to the highest quality while also providing equally exceptional customer service throughout the building process,” says Brooke Earles, Senior Project Manager at Press Glass Inc.
Result
Considering the situation with COVID constraints, increased raw material pricing, market conditions, budget, and aesthetic desires, the proposed solution of changing the 400H glass coating to SNR 35 coated glass was received as a favorable offer by Gensler Architects and Charlotte Glass and the job was secured with a letter of intent to order sent to Press Glass Inc.
Upon receiving the letter of intent, the order was scheduled and the first batch of the 117,000 sq.ft. of 1” insulated glass units was released into production in May of 2022. PRESS GLASS Inc. also fabricated token spandrel and laminated units for the build.
The result of changing the glass coating in the project was even more beneficial from a solar heat gain standpoint. According to Kinder, “ SunGuard ™ SNR 35 coated glass gave that look of a more reflective, brighter, vibrant glass, with a good vision-to-spandrel blend but still met the solar heat gain requirements which certainly made it a more efficient design.”
Conclusion
Charlotte Glass Contractors chose to order glass from Guardian and Press Glass because of their persistence and constant cooperation to meet the deadlines and the project budget. The new SNR 35 reflective glass coating is showcased on the 400H building and this is the largest building with this coating in North Carolina and possibly in the entire south region to date.
The building is used as a spectacle to represent the new coating and the high-quality work it takes to manufacture, fabricate, and install the glass. It is thanks to the collaborative efforts of Charlotte Glass Contractors, Guardian Glass, and Press Glass Inc. that made this project a success.
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