Ultimate Daylighting

Windows, glass and digital innovations
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Sponsored by Guardian Industries Corp., Pella Commercial, EFCO, a Pella Company, and Panda Windows & Doors
Celeste Allen Novak AIA, LEED AP

Between-the-glass window options reduce long-term maintenance costs and improve energy performance. Not only do blinds and shades between panes of glass make cleaning much easier; they eliminate the need for room-side window treatments that can be damaged through accidental or deliberate actions. Between-the-glass window options are just one of many ways to control glare with the added value of reducing long-term maintenance costs and improved energy performance.

Architects continue to be drawn to the need to create transparent structures—buildings that float on the landscape as if they were a part of the natural world. However, these human structures require a balance between visible clarity and energy savings. Buildings with vast expanses of glass have been hard to heat and cool. Recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency and statistics show that in the United States buildings account for 36 percent of total energy use, 65 percent of electricity consumption, and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Technology that improves energy and light transmission includes research on the effectiveness of different low-E glass, new dynamic coatings, and structural innovations to allow for larger windows.

The criteria for the U.S. Green Building Council LEED® EQc8.1 Daylight and Views requires that designers optimize building orientation and envelope design to provide access to daylight. The next step is to identify occupant behavior and the use of building spaces. Depending on that use, the designer will need to develop a strategy to control daylight. They also need to consider room configuration and window locations to maximize access to daylight. In many cases, interior windows can be added to “harvest” daylight into corridors and deeper areas of the building. There are many ways to develop a strategy for daylighting and the architect needs to integrate such strategies throughout the building. LEED® recommends that 75 percent of all occupants are provided with access to daylight.

The transition from inside to outside is seamless because of the large operable multi-slide pocket door system in this custom residential home in Irvine Terrace Community in Corona del Mar, California, designed by Spinnaker Development of Newport Beach.

Photo courtesy of Panda Windows & Doors

 

Glass That Stops Drafts: Golisano Institute for Sustainability

Modeling by architect SWBR helped the Rochester Institute of Technology Golisano Institute for Sustainability choose advanced glazing solutions.

Photo courtesy of EFCO, a Pella Company

The mission of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Golisano Institute for Sustainability is to undertake world-class education and research programs in sustainability, focusing on sustainable production, sustainable energy, sustainable mobility, and ecologically friendly information technology systems.1 The Institute’s instructions to architect SWBR Architects who designed this project in association with Design Architect FXFOWLE, was to provide an aggressively designed thermal envelope. The Institute required that the project provide significant energy savings for a building of this type—a particular challenge for a multi-story research building located in upstate New York. Given these goals, the team approached decision-making for the building envelope system with two overriding criteria: optimize energy performance and minimize energy demand.

The envelope utilized several curtain-wall systems. Its primary facade system features a thermally broken curtain wall and an array of high-performance glass types that reduce the possibility of thermal transfer. Given the size and complexity of the system, the products were unitized, or factory assembled into larger units of seven or eight glazed components each, prior to being installed in the field. This permitted improved quality control with limited field connections and limited installation time on site.

Tracking against a baseline energy model, the architectural team sought to provide no more than 40 percent vision glass on the envelope and to improve upon the thermal performance of all components. They evaluated parallel energy and cost models specific to the envelope. The selected spandrel glazing incorporates 4.5-inch thermal insulation. Daylighting glazing primarily utilizes an advanced, 3-inch-thick glass and translucent infill. The building’s vision glazing is primarily a glass with a heat-mirror film and krypton gas infill, which provided triple-pane performance within a 1-inch product.

In addition to these high-performance products, a new and innovative glass was utilized in areas where occupants would be seated near the curtain wall. This double-paned window utilizes an electric current to charge and heat an invisible metal coating on the third surface. While it offers the appearance of standard vision glazing, it is designed to achieve a room-temperature set point, effectively eliminating the expected temperature differential and associated cold downdraft along a window, improving user comfort and eliminating the need for other perimeter heat systems in the project. Within the energy model, these were termed “perfect windows,” as they become “thermally opaque” when outdoor temperatures drop below 42 degrees. The heat provided is only within the cavity on the surface of the double-pane window, so the energy required to raise its temperature is generally low and the energy is more effectively applied than in conventional perimeter systems. Similar to the building lighting systems, these windows are also tied in to room occupancy sensors.

The incorporation of this technology represents both RIT’s commitment to innovation and the Golisano Institute’s work in bringing environmentally smart and efficient technologies to market. SWBR architect Maddalina comments, “True innovation is not for the faint-of-heart. While the product has had its challenges with a relatively high failure rate upon initial installation and a high first cost, the project team recognizes that this technology is potentially game-changing and, as it reaches the mainstream, could represent the future of glazing technology.”

Given this array of products within the curtain-wall system, the team included air and water infiltration testing as part of the installation. The system passed with no measurable infiltration found. The project is seeking LEED® Platinum certification. The electronic power glass used on this project essentially stops all heat loss from the interior to exterior while heating the interior space of the building.

 

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in September 2013

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