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Helical Bendheim Channel Glass Walls Grace Pennsylvania College

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Stunning Curved Design by Steven Holl is a First in Exteriors

Eight helically-curved, double-glazed, 16-foot channel glass walls by Bendheim are key to the design of the new Franklin & Marshall College Winter Visual Arts Center in Lancaster, Pa. They clad the building’s 2nd and Mezzanine levels and define its celebrated “box-kite” shape.

Steven Holl Architects designed the $29 million project – a three-story, 33,000 square foot building that opened in the fall of 2020. The unique building design curves in plan and section in response to several large, historic trees. “The trees are the largest thing of this campus. I made the actual geometry of the building concave in response to the diameter of the trees,’’ Holl said in a video on the company website.

Channel glass at Franklin & Marshall during the day

Our ultra-clear low-iron channel glass with translucent white insulation creates a crystalline, brilliant white glass facade. Photo by Paul Warchol.

One of the main challenges for Bendheim was to engineer a unique, parallel, single-glazed, tip-to-tip framing configuration for the curved glass walls. The unusual façade layout, which has never been done before in North America, minimizes the visual appearance of the channel glass joints. Together with the use of translucent white insulation and ultra-clear low-iron channel glass, the new design produces a homogenous façade featuring a crystalline, brilliant white aesthetic.

Channel glass joints create a signature linear aesthetic, and tend to be fairly pronounced in traditional double-glazed applications. Typical to Steven Holl, the architect took a building material he frequently employs and made it brand new.

channel glass helix curve - elevation view

Bendheim detail drawing of the mezzanine level channel glass helix curve – elevation view

The customized facade configuration at the Pennsylvania college deemphasizes the joints and creates walls with deeper cavities, allowing the insertion of double-thickness insulation. This enhances the thermal performance of the wall and the diffusion of natural daylight. During the day, the helically-curved channel glass walls diffuse approximately 20 percent of visible light to the interior, eliminating glare – ideal for light-sensitive art studio environments. At night, they emit a subtle, visceral glow.

The building design allows for natural ventilation during mild times of the year, while geothermal heating and cooling, coupled with an insulated envelope, dramatically reduce energy costs. The project was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.

National Enclosure Company installed the channel glass. Casali Group served as the project manager, while Harvey Marshall Berling Associates and Knipper Helbig Advanced Engineering served as façade consultants.

Bendheim Publishes Case Study on Daylight-Friendly Office Design for Today and Post-COVID

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Curved Walls of Channel Glass Create Circular Flow through the Office and Facilitate Physical Separation

Our newest case study reveals the intended and unexpected benefits of its curved channel glass wall design at the new FlightHub Office by ACDF Architecture. The daylight and privacy-friendly circular channel glass partition creates an efficient flow that facilitates social distancing. The translucent glass separates the space while maintaining a sense of connectivity.

curved channel glass walls

FlightHub Office, Montreal, QC by ACDF Architecture. Photo by Maxime Brouillet.

The 18-page publication details how the double-glazed channel glass wall solution addresses the design challenges. The case study includes sections dedicated to budget-friendly design, sustainability, and acoustic, visual, and physical privacy. Feedback from the architect and installer describes the collaborative aspect of the design, while our detail drawings illustrate how the channel glass maps into the layout and ties into other systems. Approximately twenty images bring the FlightHub office design to life.

Channel glass is a translucent, three-dimensional, textured glass produced in several widths ranging from 9″ to 19″ and lengths up to 23 feet. Its signature U-channel shape adds great strength and makes it self-supporting, allowing it to create long uninterrupted spans of glass with minimal framing elements.

curved channel glass walls

FlightHub Office, Montreal, QC by ACDF Architecture. Photo courtesy of DiVETRO.

Our double-glazed walls are formed of rows of individual glass channels, facing one another – flanges in. The flanges create a cavity that is filled with air or insulation inserts, providing outstanding acoustic properties. The textured glass obscures views through the wall, while transmitting soft, diffused light. Channel glass walls are ideal for privacy and daylighting applications – a contemporary solution for the new challenges office designers face today.

To read the case study and learn more about channel glass design for interiors, please visit https://bendheim.com/professional/resources/additional-readings/.

Bendheim’s Lamberts® Channel Glass Separates & Connects Spaces at New FlightHub Office

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Acoustic, Visual, and Physical Privacy for Post-COVID Work Environments

Bendheim has supplied its double-glazed channel glass wall system for the interior partition walls at the newly renovated FlightHub office in Montreal, Quebec, by ACDF Architecture. The circular glass wall design is uniquely budget-friendly and affords improved acoustic and visual privacy.

curved channel glass walls

FlightHub Office, Montreal, QC by ACDF Architecture. Photo by Maxime Brouillet.

We supplied approximately 4,000 sq. ft. of our Solar-textured, safety tempered, SGCC certified, double-glazed Lamberts® channel glass for the project. The glass creates a perfectly circular interior wall separating the private offices located along the perimeter of the octagonal building from the collaborative spaces in the center. Using the relatively narrow, 10″-wide channel glass lites for the curved wall meant only the frames had to be custom-curved. The 8.5-foot tall glass channels were then pocket-set into the frames. The coordination and installation was completed by DiVETRO. The glass is captured at the head and sill (top and bottom) – no intermediary vertical framing needed – creating a clean design aesthetic.

The light-diffusing, textured channel glass brings daylighting benefits and a sense of openness, simultaneously separating and connecting functional areas within the space. In the age of COVID, this became an unexpected design benefit. The easy-to-clean channel glass walls separate offices from communal areas, facilitating social distancing and concentrated work.

curved channel glass walls

FlightHub Office, Montreal, QC by ACDF Architecture. Photo by Maxime Brouillet.

Our channel glass offers superior acoustic and visual privacy. The 4.5”-thick double-glazed walls have an STC rating of 38, comparable to the STC rating of a standard 4.5”-thick opaque, insulated interior wall. The textured channel glass surfaces diffuse light, maintaining daylight advantages while providing visual privacy. According to the architects, the glass “has a magical effect when natural light pours through.”

Channel glass is well-known as a facade product through high-profile projects such as the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO, and South Street Seaport Pier 17 in NYC. Today, it is emerging as an innovative solution for interior walls. For more information, please visit https://bendheim.com/bendheims-channel-glass-at-new-flighthub-office/.

Bendheim’s Ventilated Glass Facade System Wins Two Architizer A+ Product Awards

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International Architectural Awards Celebrate Innovative System’s Use in Parking Structures

Our Ventilated Glass Facade for Parking Structures has won Architizer’s Popular Choice award in the Building Systems – Sustainable Design Products category, as well as the Jury award in the Facades – Glass & Glazing category. The two recognitions highlight the system’s ability to enhance parking facade design and the user experience by creating healthier, more comfortable, elegant, and sustainable parking facilities.

The Architizer A+Awards is the largest awards program for architecture and building products, with a global audience of over 400 million. Winners are selected based on excellence in aesthetics, performance, and impact. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast in this year’s awards. Jury winners were selected by a cadre of industry luminaries, including Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects, Bjarke Ingels of BIG, David Rockwell of Rockwell Group, and Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects.

Our glass parking facade impressed audiences and jurors with its jewel-like aesthetic and ability to form a high-performance shield against the elements. The open, translucent cladding stops over 90% of wind-driven moisture and delivers abundant natural ventilation and daylight. It improves the air quality inside structures while eliminating the need for energy-draining mechanical systems.

The patent-pending ventilated glass facade attaches directly to the building’s walls and slabs, contributing additional efficiencies – no need for a costly, resource-heavy steel sub-structure. The resulting aesthetic is light and crystalline.

The system consists of safety (tempered and/or laminated) architectural glass installed in metal compression fittings. Specialized steel plates, custom-engineered by Bendheim for each project, achieve the desired amount of natural ventilation. Glass drilling or notching is not required, speeding installation. The translucent glass cladding diffuses ample daylight, while obscuring outside-in views.

All Bendheim facade components are fully customizable. Architects can specify custom fritted, digitally printed, decorative laminated, etched, bird-friendly, or other specialty glass types to impart a unique identity to the parking structure and provide the right balance between openness and privacy. Maximum glass panel size can reach up to 5 ft. by 13 ft., depending on the facade design, glass type, and wind loads. Metal components are engineered to the requirements of each project and are available in hundreds of powder-coated colors, including metallics.

Glass Parking Facade

727 West Madison / 1 South Halsted Parking Structure, Chicago, IL by FitzGerald Associates. Photo by Tashio Martinez.

The award-winning system was originally created in collaboration with FitzGerald Associates architects and Reflection Window + Wall installers for the 727 West Madison / 1 South Halsted parking facility in Chicago, IL. On this project, the system savings totaled over $1 million.

Our Ventilated Glass Facade for Parking Structures has also won a Best Building Envelope Product award from Architectural Record magazine, and was profiled in The Construction Specifier and Contract magazines.

The Momentary Becomes First Building to Use Bendheim’s Glass Rainscreen as Multi-Story Projection Screen

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Eighty-Foot-Tall Projectable Glass Facade Brings Contemporary Art to the Outdoors

The Momentary, located in Bentonville, AR, is the world’s first building to use our innovative glass rainscreen system as a 6,000 sq. ft. projection surface. The custom-imprinted glass screen features our new LumiFrit™ surface #1 fritted glass, which is optimal for reflecting light and can be customized in a virtually unlimited range of decorative patterns.

The Momentary, a former Kraft Foods cheese factory, is a new adaptive-reuse project by Wheeler Kearns Architects of Chicago, IL. The complex is a contemporary satellite to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR. Among its chief new architectural features is an 80-foot tall projectable glass rainscreen by Bendheim, used as a scrim around a new concrete stair and elevator tower.

Our LumiFrit glass cladding lends the tower a brilliant white, ephemeral aesthetic during the day. At night, the white frit pattern, uniquely applied to the outermost surface of the glass, bounces front-projected light to create a sharp image.

The Momentary white frit glass rainscreen

The Momentary by Wheeler Kearns Architects. Photo by Tom Harris Architectural Photography.

The glass rainscreen was tested as a projection surface – and stage – by BANDALOOP, the pioneer in vertical modern dance. The group choreographed and staged a performance on top of the glass, designed to “activate the public space.” A facade that doubles as a digital art canvas is remarkably relevant today, as outdoor venues are becoming a necessity by promoting culture in a safer and healthier environment.

“This cutting-edge installation heralds a more positive and creative future,” said Robert Jayson, President of Bendheim. “We are proud to have been selected for the project, and are pleased to see Bendheim glass used in such an unusual and captivating way.”

dance on top of Bendheim glass rainscreen

The Momentary by Wheeler Kearns Architects. Vertical performance by BANDALOOP on top of the Bendheim glass rainscreen. Photo courtesy BANDALOOP.

Our rainscreen incorporates four unique fritted glass designs, ranging from 50% to 80% opaque. They were designed by Osage graphic artist Addie Roanhorse and were inspired by traditional Osage Native American design motifs.

On the back of the glass, our SatinTech® etched finish acts as a dispersion filter for LED back-lighting. It turns the glass facade into a beacon of light that can be used creatively to highlight special events. A recent blood drive, spearheaded by the Momentary and Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, “painted” the glass tower in a bright red light.

The architects chose our rainscreen system for its distinctive glass makeup and ease of use. The system fastens directly to the concrete to eliminate the need for a costly steel substructure and the shadow lines associated with it. Patented clip attachments allow each glass panel to be installed and replaced independently of its neighbors, speeding installation and facilitating maintenance. “This unique quality pushed the owner and us in that direction,” said Calli Verkamp, Project Architect at Wheeler Kearns Architects. The glass was installed by Advantage Glass of Tulsa, OK.

For more information on our glass rainscreen systems, please visit https://bendheim.com/system/flat-glass-rainscreen-systems/.

Bendheim Channel Glass Rainscreen Revamps Modernist Chicago Building

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Our Lamberts® channel glass completely transforms and rebrands an existing commercial storefront in downtown Chicago to create a welcoming new Capital One Café. From its modern visual “rhythm” to a careful balance of privacy and transparency, the special three-dimensional glass delivers a contemporary guest experience, while respecting the architectural heritage of the building.

IA Interior Architects was tasked with creating Capital One’s Chicago Loop café into “an ideal place for anyone to touch down and work, seek personalized financial advice, or grab a cup of coffee,” according to the architects’ website. The architects chose to over-clad two stories of existing curtain wall with approximately 2,500 sq. ft. of our channel glass rainscreen to preserve as much of the original building as possible, while delivering a distinctive branding opportunity for the client.

Capital One Cafe | Bendheim Channel Glass Project

Capital One Cafe, Chicago, IL by Interior Architects. Photo by Tashio Martinez.

The architects’ channel glass choice was inspired by several design considerations:

  • Desire to create a sensitive, modernist-style intervention to the existing building;
  • Use of our ultra-colorless low-iron channel glass for its “soft” translucent-white appearance – to evoke Capital One’s signature white-glazed brick facade aesthetic, featured throughout its other locations;
  • Provide the highest possible level of visibility and light transmittance, while seamlessly weaving in areas of visual privacy.
Capital One Cafe | Bendheim Channel Glass Project

Capital One Cafe, Chicago, IL by Interior Architects. Photo by Tashio Martinez.

The architects’ chosen mix of Clarissimo™ glass channels as vision lites and Piccolo™ fluted texture channels as privacy lites in the continuous SF-60S rainscreen system provides the perfect balance between transparency and translucency. The channel glass facade disperses daylight and minimizes glare, eliminating the need for additional shading devices. It also beautifully diffuses the LED back-lighting at night.

To learn more about our Lamberts® channel glass, please visit https://bendheim.com/glass_type/channel-glass.