Pantone® just released its latest Color of the Year: “Ultra Violet.” We are eager to share some of our work featuring the hip purple hue to demonstrate how Ultra Violet translates into architectural glass.

The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio by Overland Partners features our channel glass facade elements in custom colors inspired by the brand (the hospital’s logo is orange, green, and purple). The vibrant channel glass colors are visible from within the patient rooms, bringing joy and healing to the children:

Color LEDs, in combination with light-diffusing glass textures, are a great technique to apply color to buildings. At Chicago’s historic Navy Pier, a Bendheim glass kiosk by nARCHITECTS is illuminated in a rainbow of purples, pinks, and oranges. The translucent white interlayer and finely fluted texture of the glass help diffuse the colored light:

We have expanded designers’ material palette with a new whimsical pink back-painted glass. Inspired by the recently announced “Ruby” Swiss chocolate, the durable, maintenance-friendly architectural glass lends a sense of comfort and indulgence to building interiors.

The rose color, an uncommon presence in architectural glass, is on trend with the “millennial pink” movement. “Millennial pink” started life in the fashion world as a soft pastel hue, then migrated to interior design and architecture. Over time, the term expanded to include a much richer variety of shades – from classic peach to contemporary magenta – taking on the name “millennial” after the demographic that brought it to the fore. In architectural glass, the color received its debut in our “Vivid Pastels” collection, launched at the beginning of 2017.

The new rosy hue is inspired by Barry Callebaut’s “Ruby” Swiss chocolate. Extracted from a special Ruby cocoa bean, it is the first natural chocolate color to be developed in 80 years.

Our new “Ruby Chocolate” glass allows architects and designers to introduce the on-trend shade to interiors as a naturally hygienic, VOC-free back-painted glass. The shade is available on fire-polished (glossy), semi-matte, and matte Bendheim glass. The anti-glare matte and semi-matte SatinTech™ options are perfect for daylight-friendly wall cladding applications.

In addition to the new “Ruby Chocolate,” we offer a variety of warm pink hues in durable, color-stable architectural glass, including: transparent pink laminated glass and pale pink mirror.

Inspired by the needs of today’s office worker, we are launching this industry-first decorative sound-control glass featuring a delicate brushed aesthetic. Our new +2 Collection is named for its ability to provide combined acoustic + visual privacy. It helps architects create elegant, quiet spaces that promote comfort, wellbeing, and the ability to concentrate.

The +2 laminated safety glass enables A&D professionals to provide an alternative to the “fish bowl” effect – clear glass office fronts and conference rooms that make employees feel on display – by allowing architects to:

• Create peaceful, quiet spaces – visually + acoustically
• Provide a sense of openness as light passes through the translucent glass walls
• Produce a stunning lantern effect at night as the +2 glass walls disperse light from within the spaces

The light-diffusing +2 glass maintains daylight advantages, while controlling unwanted views and noise. It offers outstanding acoustic performance with Sound Transmission Class (STC) 36 or greater. At STC 36, speech becomes unintelligible through the +2 glass. Compare this to the STC 33 of a standard 4.5” thick uninsulated interior stud wall, which cannot mask loud speech nor transmit light.

“Pale Bronze Brushed Fiber” acoustic laminated glass

The appeal of +2 continues with its elegant, organic “brushed fiber” design, giving glass surfaces the appearance of freshly skated ice. +2 combines the obscuring brushed effect with a range of neutral color tints, including several in-demand bronzes and a smoked grey. The +2 acoustic interlayer can also be combined with hundreds of other colors or decorative glass varieties, including Bendheim’s ultra-privacy Houdini^™ micro-fluted glass.

Here is a visual representation of the acoustic advantages of Bendheim’s sound control glass:

STC data chart depicts the performance of standard tempred and laminated glass in comparison with Bendheim’s sound control glass collections (+2 and Channel Glass)

The combination of translucent and mirrored +2 glass varieties extends the collection’s aesthetic from partitions to wall surfaces. The glass is available in slim standard thicknesses ranging from approx. ¼” to ½”, in sizes up to 60” by 120”.