Skip links

Member Login

Bendheim

Header Right

Main navigation

Menu
MyBendheim

Bendheim Wall Systems’ Schermerhorn House Wins AIA’s Housing Award

by Leave a Comment

The Schermerhorn House Raises the Bar for Affordable Housing Design

The Schermerhorn House, an affordable housing residence in Brooklyn, NY, is a recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ 2011 Housing Award in the Special Housing category. The Award recognizes the best in housing design and promotes the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit, and a valuable national resource. Constructed with Bendheim Wall Systems’ Lamberts channel glass, the project elevates design standards for affordable housing and creates a community building that is comfortable as well as visually stimulating for residents and visitors alike.

Designed by Ennead Architects, the building’s primary northern façade is comprised of five channel glass tower elements comprised of 57 double-glazed unitized assemblies. The innovative curtain wall incorporates over 7,000 square feet of Lamberts channel glass and is the largest horizontal channel glass application in the United States, as well as the first to require a vertical center mullion.
Comprised of up to 60 percent recycled content, Lamberts channel glass answers the project’s strict demands for sustainable materials. The translucent Rough Cast™ textured glass channels obscure views and allow daylight into the building. The occasional transparent Clarissimo™ channels serve as vision lites. The building features both tempered and annealed channel glass.
“While the Schermerhorn House joins Bendheim Wall Systems’ growing list of AIA award-winning projects, it scores the first Housing Award for the company,” says Michael Tryon, General Manager of Bendheim Wall Systems, Inc. “The architects utilized channel glass in a highly creative manner for this budget-sensitive project. The horizontal orientation maximized the use of annealed glass and minimized the amount of more costly tempered glass. Commingling obscuring textured glass with clear vision glass eliminated the need for integrating separate window units, and unitizing the wall sections allowed the building to be enclosed more quickly than conventional site-built assemblies, a ‘home-run’ to the project schedule.”
The channel glass tower-like elements rise from a transparent glass base cantilevered over subway tunnels running directly below the site. The southern façade overlooks a landscaped roof terrace on the second level, providing a transition to the surrounding single family homes in the neighborhood. The House, developed by Common Ground Community and The Actors’ Fund, offers 216 units for single adults transitioning out of homelessness, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and low-income residents.
Bendheim Wall Systems’ translucent, U-shaped Lamberts channel glass creates sweeping walls of glass, including curves and corners, without the need for intermediate framing members. Reaching heights of 23 feet, it is an ideal daylighting material and contains as much as 60 percent recycled glass, including up to 40 percent post-consumer content.

Bendheim Wall Systems’ Channel Glass Project Wins World Architecture News Effectiveness Award

by Leave a Comment

The Union County Juvenile Detention Center in Linden, N.J., featuring our channel glass, is a winner of the first World Architecture News (WAN) Effectiveness Awards. The first major international competition of its kind, the WAN Awards aims to find the best examples of architectural design, which profoundly impact society.

Described as “optimism that belies the building type,” the 72,000 sq. ft. Center transcends correctional facility stereotypes. Designed by Ricci Greene Associates, the open and spacious building promotes a sense of connection to the outside and provides a safe and humane environment for residents.

Only one room deep at any given point, the building wraps around a one acre outdoor courtyard, optimizing daylight, space, and connectivity. At the same time, it serves as the Center’s secure perimeter. High-impact security glazing replaces steel bars or perimeter fencing and offers a more normative environment for youths, while providing daylight and views.

Daylight is a paramount element of the Center’s design and floods in from both the exterior and corridor.  Bendheim provided our SGCC certified 504 Rough Cast™ textured channel glass with a thermal insulation interlayer, installed in our proprietary frame system, for the project. Interior housing units incorporate a raked roof, creating a vertical window-wall of channel glass almost 16 feet above the ground. Installed by Clifton Architectural Glass and Mirror, Clifton, N.J., our Lamberts® channel glass is free of mullions and allows abundant year-round daylight, while shielding interiors from the hot summer sun.

The translucent, U-shaped channel glass can create sweeping walls of glass, including curves and corners, without the need for intermediate framing members. Reaching heights of 23 feet, it is an ideal daylighting material and contains as much as 60 percent recycled glass, including up to 40 percent post-consumer content.

Daylight, colors, textures, and views to the outside have been shown to have a positive impact on the mood and behavior of both residents and employees of the Center. Through integration of architectural design, counseling, education, and recreational programs, the Center is not merely a correctional facility but a vital part of the justice system. It is designed to support interaction between youths, mentors, and community volunteers, as well as facilitate residents’ successful transition back into the community.

“The Union County Juvenile Detention Center is a remarkable example of architectural design having an impact on society in a direct and positive manner,” said Michael Tryon, General Manager of Bendheim Wall Systems, Inc. “The project makes an excellent case for the positive physiological effects of daylighting and views, made possible through our channel glass wall system.”

Bendheim’s “Campbell’s Red” Back-Painted Glass Wall Distinguishes Food Giant’s New Employee Center

by Leave a Comment

When the Campbell Soup Company recently held a grand opening for its new Employee Center in Camden, N.J., its distinctive corporate identity shone through vibrant Bendheim decorative glass.

Behind a transparent 38-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling glass facade, the food giant’s corporate logo features prominently on an expansive, 5,000 square foot Bendheim “Campbell’s red” back-painted glass wall. Bendheim worked closely with Campbell’s representatives to match exactly the signature red background color for the company’s highly recognizable logo. Bendheim’s color coating process incorporates a highly UV-resistant, water-based fluoropolymer formulated to preserve its color for many years. Bendheim cut, polished, tempered, and back-painted the glass, delivering first quality product within schedule and budget.
“Bendheim’s glass provides a backdrop for the corporate identity of this 141-year-old company, the only Fortune 500 company in Camden,” said Jerry Moser with R. A. Kennedy & Sons, the glazier responsible for the glass installation. “The wall of red glass, viewed through the north elevation’s curtainwall, is the focal point of the entire campus. R. A. Kennedy & Sons is proud to have participated in the realization of Campbell’s Soup Company and KlingStubbins LLP’s collective vision.”
Designed by KlingStubbins LLP, the new 80,000-square-foot Campbell’s Employee Center features a café, fitness center, company store and credit union, as well as conference rooms and a learning and development center.
Bendheim’s 100-percent vertically integrated fabrication facility in New Jersey made it a key partner in the success of this sensitive project. Please visit Our Capabilities web page for a list of available Bendheim glass fabrication services.

New Window Featuring Bendheim’s Lamberts Art Glass Brings Life to Historic New York City Synagogue

by Leave a Comment

New Silicone Lamination Technique Makes Art Glass Masterpiece Possible

For more than 20 years, workers have been meticulously restoring the Eldridge Street’s 1887 synagogue and museum on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, revitalizing existing design elements and adding new complementary features to the 50-foot tall structure. The recent installation of a new 16-foot diameter stained glass window completed the renovation process of this National Historic Landmark.
Created through the collaboration of artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans, this spectacular window is comprised of over 1,200 hand-cut pieces of mouth-blown Lamberts art glass provided by Bendheim, an importer of specialty glass since 1927. The rose window features hundreds of the American flag’s five-pointed stars in blue and yellow, radiating from the Star of David at the center of the composition. Some of the stars have been selectively gold leafed to glow in reflected light.
“We used Lamberts acid etched flash glass and traditional silver stain. Then applied the glass using a new silicone lamination technology to create a kaleidoscopic layering of glass and color, resembling a double-layered quilt that infuses the space with an atmosphere of a lively cosmos,” explains Smith, who has been working with Lamberts glass for the past 20 years.
The lead-free lamination technique used in this artwork’s fabrication truly sets it apart. According to the fabricator, Thomas Garcia, owner of The Gil Studio, Inc., this monumental window would have been structurally impossible to build using the traditional leaded glass techniques.
“This is the first large-scale project (produced in the United States) using a more modern technique of lamination instead of the traditional lead method,” he said. The Gil Studio spent more than 500 hours cutting, etching, staining, and laminating the masterpiece.
The silicone lamination of art glass allows the creation of rich, painterly windows of unprecedented size and visual complexity. The technique bonds the carefully cut colored glass pieces to a base glass, creating an elaborate mosaic of light and color, free of the traditional dark lead or copper lines. The base glass can be tempered or laminated in order to meet building safety codes.
“In contrast to a traditional stained glass window, the pieces of glass in the Eldridge Street East Rose Window are separated by lines of light,” remarked Gans. “The field of stars is largely uninterrupted by shadows and reflects the color and light changes in the sky. The color nuance, so characteristic of Lamberts glass, is brought to the fore and truly makes the window come alive.”
Protected by a separate exterior sheet of safety glass, the decorative window is comprised of two layers of Lamberts art glass laminated to a 3/8” clear safety glass base. The layers of glass are shaped into six curved triangular panels, each assembled from hundreds of small colored glass pieces. Garcia selected the material from Bendheim, the sole importer of glass from Glashütte Lamberts of Germany for the last 80 years. Lamberts art glass is crafted through the original, centuries-old mouth-blown cylinder method and exhibits the extraordinary brilliance, structure, and optimal light refraction characteristic of true mouth-blown window glass.
“Having worked with Lamberts glass for over 30 years, I fully expected to find exactly what we needed for the Eldridge Street East Rose Window,” said Garcia. “The additional benefit was the willingness of the people at Bendheim and Lamberts in Germany to accommodate the wishes of Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans by slightly modifying the density of the color. All in all, it was a rewarding experience.”
While the rose window is modern and the only truly new element in the Historic Landmark, its design is in keeping with the architecture and history of the building.  Smith and Gans’ piece replaces a tablet-shaped glass block window installed in 1944 after the original stained glass was damaged. The museum opted for a new design when it determined the records of the original window had been lost.
Opened in 1887, the synagogue is reputed to be the first house of worship built by Eastern European Jews in the United States. After lying in a state of disrepair for nearly 50 years, the structure has been carefully restored to its original grandeur and re-opened to the public.
About Bendheim:
Bendheim, the resource for specialty glass since 1927, offers more than 2,000 decorative glass types in stock and unlimited custom design solutions. The third-generation, family-owned company develops, imports, and distributes its products worldwide. Bendheim maintains production facilities in New Jersey and an extensive showroom in Tribeca, New York City. Bendheim is the exclusive importer of Lamberts glass in North America.
 
About Lamberts Mouth-blown Glass:
Glashütte Lamberts of Germany has been producing mouth-blown sheet glasses for over 70 years. The centuries-old production method requires extraordinary craftsmanship to create these beautiful and unique glasses. Their unmistakable character is expressed through their body, texture, transparency, and glowing colors. 

 

Lamberts® Mouth-Blown Art Glass Brings Life & Color to Building Spaces

by Leave a Comment

Glass Blends Centuries-Old Craftsmanship with Modern Aesthetics and Performance

Bendheim, the supplier of Lamberts Art Glass in North America, offers this hand-made glass in a rich palette of colors to the architectural and design market. Laminated in compliance with modern safety building codes, Lamberts Art Glass brings color and light into building spaces ranging from airport terminals and hospitals to schools and homes.

 

Produced through the centuries-old mouth-blown method, each sheet of Lamberts Art Glass is unique in its appearance. The glass exhibits extraordinary brilliance, structure, and optimal light refraction, introducing vibrant and humanizing design elements into modern building facades and interiors. Lamberts Art Glass’ colors and textures can enhance doors and windows, partitions, balustrades, decorative canopies, wall cladding, lighting, and signage.

 

Architects and designers can select from Bendheim’s more than 500 colors, with over 5,000 additional colors and textures available through the Lamberts factory in Germany. The breadth of the line, in combination with Bendheim’s in-house lamination and water jet capabilities, can accommodate most aesthetic and technical project requirements.

“The Construction Specifier” Front Cover Features Bendheim Wall Systems’ Channel Glass

by Leave a Comment

The Construction Specifier Magazine’s May 2010 issue contains a feature story on how to specify channel glass, written by Jim Donoghue, Technical Services Manager of Bendheim Wall Systems Inc.

The detailed ten-page article discusses design and specification standards required for the proper application of channel glass. Featured on the front cover of the magazine is Bendheim’s award-winning Pratt Institute – Higgins Hall, designed by Steven Holl and Rogers Marvel Architects. Included in the article are numerous additional channel glass projects of architectural and cultural importance, as well as informative product photos.