We are proud to announce that our Decorative Glass Rainscreen Systems are a 2016 BUILDINGS Money-Saving Products winner. The prize-winning, budget-smart systems offer the building durable protection against costly moisture damage. Individual glass panels can be installed in less than a minute, and panel removal or replacement does not require deglazing surrounding panels, allowing for speedy, cost-saving long-term maintenance.

The 2016 Money-Saving award-winning products were evaluated and selected by BUILDINGS’ editorial staff for the potential savings they offer facility owners and managers. Bendheim’s rainscreen systems joined an elite group of products showcased in the June 2016 issue of BUILDINGS magazine and online at www.BUILDINGS.com.

“Long-term moisture protection is only part of the payback equation.”

What Is a Glass Rainscreen?

Rainscreen schematic drawing: system components, water drainage and air flow paths

Moisture is the most insidious enemy to the structural integrity of buildings. Glass rainscreens envelop the building’s exterior, creating a drained and ventilated cavity between the building and the glass cladding (read more here). They prevent damaging moisture from reaching the building’s façade. Protecting against costly weather damage extends the productive service life of the building and lowers maintenance costs over its lifetime.

Bendheim’s glass rainscreens are an exceptionally fast, cost-effective, and environmentally sound option for retrofit projects. Their unlimited palette of colors and textures can breathe new life into tired old buildings. Installing a glass rainscreen over an existing façade is less costly than traditional demolition, repair, and re-glazing of exterior skins. It can be accomplished without accessing the interior and disrupting occupants, as this video of a recently retrofitted office building in San Jose, CA demonstrates.

Horizontally oriented glass panels at 3001 Orchard Parkway, California, USA

“Long-term moisture protection is only part of the payback equation,” said Michael Tryon, General Manager of Bendheim Wall Systems. “An even more exciting benefit to building owners and developers is our systems’ ability to literally transform a worn-out structure through a new, show-stopping glass skin. An elegant Bendheim glass rainscreen can be the difference between an ‘OK’ building and a sought-after, high-earning property. The potential return on investment is obvious.”

Unique to Bendheim’s rainscreens is the use of highly engineered and tested, patented compression glass fittings that offer easy setup and quick assembly. The system ensures projects are completed on time and on budget, and can be easily maintained post installation, including effortless access to building components and systems located behind the glass cladding. The method does not require costly cut-outs or holes in the glass, affording low fabrication costs combined with superior wall strength.

We are pleased to announce that our Lamberts® glass is the first channel glass tested and certified as bird-friendly by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the preeminent authority on avian-friendly architecture. The announcement highlights the rising awareness and need for sustainable bird-friendly glass in architecture. Bendheim’s new Bird-Smart certification, the first for any channel glass, confirms our Lamberts® glass is visible to birds, helping them avoid collisions. It provides architects with a newly tested, safe glass choice for building facades.

Bird strike is a real and common hazard for today’s visually stunning, glass-enclosed buildings, and a potentially jarring experience for building occupants. It is estimated that up to a billion birds are killed each year in the U.S. alone, due to collisions with glass in built structures.

“Everyone has seen or heard a bird hit a window, but few realize how common it is – adding up to hundreds of millions of birds each year in the U.S. alone.”

The enormity of the ecological impact is enough that municipalities, including San Francisco, Oakland and Palo Alto (California), Highland Park and parts of Cook County (Illinois), Toronto (Ontario), as well as the state of Minnesota, have in recent years mandated or promoted bird-friendly architecture for new construction. Additional regulations aiming to reduce avian fatalities are being considered throughout North America.

Bendheim submitted our channel glass to the American Bird Conservancy for testing and Bird-Smart certification in order to assist architects designing buildings in locales requiring the use of bird-friendly glass, as well as those looking to avian-friendly architecture for its ecological and humanitarian benefits. Testing was carried out at the Pennsylvania Powdermill Nature Reserve flight tunnel facility, one of only three in the world, in conjunction with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. No birds were harmed during testing; please see this video for more information.

“Everyone has seen or heard a bird hit a window, but few realize how common it is – adding up to hundreds of millions of birds each year in the U.S. alone,” said Dr. Christine Sheppard, American Bird Conservancy’s Bird Collisions Campaign Manager. “By working with companies like Bendheim to evaluate their glass products, we are able to proactively reduce future collisions and prevent thousands of avoidable bird fatalities.”

Bloch Building – Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO by Steven Holl Architects and BNIM Architects. Photo by Roland Halbe.

Bendheim’s Lamberts® channel glass is used to create sweeping, virtually seamless glass walls exhibiting minimal framing. It can achieve facades of limitless widths and heights, including glass-to-glass corners and curves. The glass is produced in eight decorative textures, from the nearly transparent Clarissimo™ to the heavily obscuring Ice™ and Piccolo®. Lamberts® channel glass contains up to 60 percent recycled glass, including up to 40 percent post-consumer content.  It is the only channel glass manufactured in an environmentally friendly, oxygen-fired furnace.