We are proud to announce that two buildings featuring our channel glass wall systems are winners of the 2017 American Architecture Awards. The prestigious awards honor the best new buildings in the USA. Bendheim’s channel glass is a key design element in both structures, contributing to their striking aesthetics and lighting strategies.

The University of Iowa New Visual Arts Building is a hallmark of contemporary glass architecture. Its channel glass walls provide high-quality natural light, creating an illuminating, inspiring educational environment. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, this structure illustrates how filtered daylight can enhance classrooms, art studios, and lounge spaces.

University of Iowa – Visual Arts Building, Iowa City, IA by Steven Holl Architects

The new Blu Dot Showroom in West Hollywood, California, makes a design statement by revamping a 70-year-old façade with Bendheim’s channel glass rainscreen system. Standard Architecture selected our channel glass for its refined aesthetic and ability to transform the light. During the daytime, the textured glass channels shimmer in reflected sunlight. Back-lit at night, they transform the building into a lantern.

Blu Dot Showroom, West Hollywood, CA by Shawmut Design and Construction. Photo by Benny Chan.

Lighting – both natural and artificial – is a paramount element of both award-winning designs. Channel glass contributes to each building’s lighting strategy through its anti-glare, light-diffusing properties and exceptionally long spans.

Channel glass offers a stunning alternative to traditional wall systems, creating virtually seamless, luminous glass walls of unlimited lengths. The self-supporting glass channels can stand as tall as 23 feet, while requiring minimal framing. The end result is a uniform appearance with clean design lines.

Bendheim’s channel glass is available in eight decorative textures, in regular and low-iron glass, three thermal performance coatings, and hundreds of ceramic frit colors. The glass contains as much as 40% post-consumer recycled material. It is produced in a super-efficient glass furnace, powered by an ultra-clean mix of oxygen and natural gas.

Over the years, Bendheim channel glass has contributed to numerous award-winning projects, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO, Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, LA, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA.

The Contemplative Court, one of the key attractions at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, features a one-of-a-kind, copper-bronze Bendheim architectural glass. Developed and produced exclusively for the museum, the metallic glass creates a sense of luminosity and warmth, contributing to the serenity and elegance of the space.

As the latest addition to the National Mall, the new museum pays homage to African American art, tradition, history, and culture. Defined by sweeping walls of custom glass, the Contemplative Court serves as a space for pause and reflection, providing visitors an opportunity to process the weight of the museum’s contents.

“Our grandfather started this company because he was passionate about glass…

He would have been proud to see Bendheim glass

in a building of such national significance.”

Bendheim faced major challenges in the creation of a glass that needed to meet the highly sensitive needs of the museum: the glass had to display a subtle luminosity and a balance of opacity and translucency, while providing sound control and safety.

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC by David Adjaye Associates. Photos by Anna Lorente.

We collaborated with lead architects at Adjaye Associates, lead designers for the museum, and Davis Brody Bond to conceptualize and produce the glass. The Bendheim design team created multiple glass types over a period of three years, as the architectural concept evolved.

Through all the communications, and all the samples, a glass with a core of specialized bronze-metallic mesh brought the architects’ vision to light.

The luminous bronze colored walls of semi-transparent glass separate museum gallery traffic from the Court, where visitors can quietly contemplate what they have viewed. The laminated glass offers enhanced safety and sound control. The resulting “quiet” aesthetic contributes to the design objective – to promote reconciliation and healing.

“Our grandfather started this company because he was passionate about glass,” said Steven Jayson, Bendheim’s Vice President. “He wanted to supply quality, timeless products that made meaningful contributions to our architectural history. He would have been proud to see Bendheim glass in a building of such national significance.”

For four generations and 90 years, Bendheim has built our company on collaborations with building professionals, providing unprecedented knowledge and expertise. We have had the opportunity to contribute to several historic architectural landmarks, including The White House in Washington, DC, Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, LA, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO.