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Bendheim’s Channel & Dichroic Architectural Glass Define New CUNY Science Campus

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The City University of New York (CUNY) will shortly unveil its new science campus in Upper Manhattan, consisting of the Advanced Science and Research Center (ASRC) and the City College Center for Discovery and Innovation. Bendheim’s channel glass and Optichroic® SatinTech™ dichroic architectural glass define the interior and exterior of the 390,000-sq.-ft. science complex. The advanced structural and decorative qualities of the glass reflect the innovative, entrepreneurial research to be conducted in the buildings.
The project team includes Flad Architects, as the architect of record, and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC (KPF), as the design architect. KPF selected Bendheim’s advanced architectural glass to translate the wonder and innovation of scientific discovery into the buildings’ design. Bendheim Wall Systems’ Lamberts channel glass is a sophisticated alternative to flat glass, allowing architects to create virtually seamless glass walls, up to 23’ tall and limitless in length, including corners and serpentine walls. Bendheim’s dichroic SatinTech glass, characterized by striking visual qualities, has its origins in NASA’s research into materials capable of protection against direct sunlight and cosmic radiation.
“Both the channel glass and the dichroic glass diffuse the natural light and create a sense of fluidity and ribbon-like continuity that we used to define the interior public and social spaces as if we carved away through the buildings… beginning at the entrances and reaching in a spiraling, upward fashion towards the light of the central vertical spaces in both buildings,” said Hana Kassem, AIA LEED AP, Director, KPF.
Bendheim Wall Systems provided 17,000 sq. ft. of channel glass for the curved and straight double-glazed interior walls. The majority of these glass walls exceed 14’ in height. The walls of both buildings combine two of Bendheim’s channel glass textures: Solar™ creates veiled images for a soft sense of privacy, and Clarissimo™ offers a high level of transparency for vision areas. The City College Center for Discovery and Innovation displays low-iron channel glass with an ultra-clear, brilliant quality. The ASRC features the standard Lamberts channel glass with approximately 60% recycled material, including up to 40% post-consumer content.
Another 12,000 sq. ft. of channel glass, reaching 10’ to 15’ heights, accent the facades of the new campus. Double-glazed walls consist of recycled-content Solar channel glass encapsulating 1.5-inch thick Okapane insulation to improve the buildings’ thermal performance. The exterior walls feature a distinctive combination of channel glass and laminated colored glass insulated units held in Bendheim Wall Systems’ proprietary SF60 frame system. Bendheim is the only glass provider to offer such an application: creating a seamless appearance and speeding installation.
“Owing to its integral structural qualities, channel glass offered the continuity of surface that we were after to create a seamless wrapping of the interior public spaces, much like a continuous winding ribbon leading you inside, starting at the base and entry point of the buildings, up through the connected social spaces lining the central atrium and culminating at the top floor,” said Kassem. “The diaphanous visual quality also added to the sense of meandering space we were seeking.”
At the ASRC building, a striking, wide-open central stairway, featuring Bendheim’s SatinTech glass guardrail, connects the flowing floor plan and promotes partnership among laboratories. As the viewer’s angle to the glass changes, SatinTech shifts its color, creating a refined iridescent aesthetic. The winding staircase required high-precision, complex glass fabrication. Bendheim provided ¾-inch thick, bent, safety, triple-laminated Optichroic® SatinTech™ glass, custom-curved to hug the contours of the six-level, monumental staircase.
“Bendheim’s curved dichroic glass was the perfect answer to our client’s desire for ‘color without color’ as the client requested one of the buildings, the ASRC, to be more about texture and neutral tones but not devoid of a sense of wonder that could be associated with scientific experimentation conducted in the labs,” said Kassem. “The ephemeral, fleeting color of the guardrail around the central staircase provided exactly that. The constantly shifting and changing hues point to the explorations of physics and optics with subtlety.”

Bendheim Wall Systems’ Channel Glass Project Among Seven Finalists In Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize

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The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Bloch Building in Kansas City, Mo. is one of seven finalists for the inaugural Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP). Founded by Wiel Arets, Dean of the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), the MCHAP award recognizes the most distinguished architectural works in the Americas.
The most striking feature of the Bloch Building’s design is its channel-glass-clad exterior. Bendheim Wall Systems worked closely with the Steven Holl Architects team to provide custom 16”-wide Lamberts channel glass creating the double-glazed curtain walls of the five building “lenses.” The remarkable design is yet another confirmation of the prominent role channel glass can play in transforming exterior spaces.
The seven MCHAP finalists were drawn from a shortlist of 36 projects and were selected by five jury members, after a visit to each site. The jury members are: President Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture at GSAPP, Columbia University, New York; Wiel Arets, Dean of the College of Architecture and Rowe Family College of Architecture Dean Endowed Chair at IIT, Chicago; Jorge Francisco Liernur, Architect, Professor at Torcuato Di Tella University, and Researcher of Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Investigation, Buenos Aires; Dominique Perrault, Founding Principal, Dominique Perrault Architecture, Paris and Professor at EPFL, Lausanne; and Sarah Whiting, Dean and William Ward Watkin Professor, Rice School of Architecture, Houston.
“The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Bloch Building has garnered multiple awards and continues to inspire and rouse the architectural community,” states Michael Tryon, General Manager of Bendheim Wall Systems. “Lamberts channel glass played an integral role in the award-winning design, and we are honored to have been part of this amazing project. We hope it will be named the MCHAP winner in the fall.”
The winner will be announced at the MCHAP Conference slated for Wednesday, October 22, in Chicago. It will present an opportunity for the design community to discuss what constitutes the most innovative and significant contemporary architecture in the Americas.
To view the Bloch Building’s complete list of honors, please visit https://www.bendheimwall.com/project.cfm?project_id=15.
Bendheim Wall Systems, Inc. is North America’s leading channel glass wall systems supplier. The company’s award-winning projects include Steven Holl’s Bloch Building/Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Shaw Center for the Arts by Schwartz/Silver, and the Boston ICA by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Bendheim’s partnership with Glasfabrik Lamberts, the largest privately held cast glass factory in Europe, spans eight decades.

Skylark Lounge Featuring Bendheim’s Vintagewire™ Glass Wins A.R.E. Retail Environments Design Award

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The Skylark Lounge by Meyer Davis Studio Inc. is the grand prize winner of the Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) 2014 Design Awards – Restaurant/Fine Dining category. The victorious design of New York City’s classically styled cocktail lounge prominently features Bendheim’s VintageWire™ decorative architectural glass creating a distinct modern-traditional atmosphere.
Set 30 stories up in the heart of New York’s Garment District, the 7,000-sq.-ft., 141-person lounge delivers expansive panoramic views of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline from within the multi-level indoor spaces and an open-air rooftop terrace. Skylark’s wrap-around layout and floor-to-ceiling windows, together with suede couches and tufted-leather stools, create a fashionable vintage atmosphere.
The A.R.E. Design Award acknowledges Skylark’s luxe materials and rich textures. The feature wall by the bar showcases Bendheim’s textured, opaque VintageWire glass framed in dark wood. The lively yet gentle metallic reflections of the forty dark-bronze rippled glass panels create a sense of energy as they echo the lights and movement in the space. Custom VintageWire glasspartitions, featuring a translucent white interlayer, create a sense of privacy as they filter light through in a soft glow. Bendheim’s white VintageWire glass also serves as the lounge’s exterior sign, welcoming patrons to the chic venue.
VintageWire contains true chicken wire laminated between two sheets of glass. It can be specified in a virtually unlimited palette of textures and translucent or opaque colors, including metallic hues. The textured Skylark walls, for example, incorporate a bronze-grey color and Bendheim’s exclusive EcoGlass™, produced in an enviro-sensitive factory with up to 40% post-consumer recycled content. The glass was installed by Doortec Architectural Metal & Glass of River Vale, N.J.
Design professionals can specify VintageWire glass for interior walls and partitions, stair railings, balustrades, door inserts, sidelites, and decorative details for interiors requiring distinct character and refined vintage appeal. The laminated VintageWire glass offers enhanced safety and sound control properties. It is available in sizes up to 48” by 85” and in thicknesses up to ¾”. To learn more about Bendheim decorative architectural glass, please visit www.BendheimArchitectural.com.

Channel Glass-Clad Blaffer Art Museum Wins Best of Year Award

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Bendheim Wall Systems is honored by the recognition awarded to Blaffer Art Museum by Interior Design Magazine – a Best of Year Merit Award. WORKac architects’ remarkable design is yet another confirmation of the prominent role channel glass can play in transforming interior spaces.
WORKac worked closely on this building adaptation with the Bendheim Wall Systems design team to create a dramatic, budget-friendly channel glass application for the new sloped museum entrance. Contrasting smooth and pebble textured glass reveals a new grand staircase and floods the interior space with daylight. A subtle Azur solar control coating casts a pale smoky blue hue while improving the thermal performance of the double-glazed wall. The resulting aesthetic is enlivening and modernizing, enhancing both the museum’s façade and interiors.
“With the help of Bendheim Wall Systems, WORKac’s renovation of the Blaffer Art Museum came to life through the amazing possibilities of channel glass. Bendheim was a pleasure to work with, and, together, we produced a refreshing and beautiful new landmark for the University of Houston and the city at large,” said Dan Wood of WORKac.
This project award is especially dear to our team, because it recognizes the ability of channel glass to enhance interior design. Interior channel glass walls and partitions create light-filled spaces without sacrificing the need for privacy. A range of six textures in 40% post-consumer recycled or ultra-clear low iron glass, as well as hundreds of enameled colors, offer choice of design and various levels of privacy. The channels’ signature linear appearance creates a streamlined, modern aesthetic and the sense of larger, more open and airy spaces.
Bendheim Wall Systems’ engineers help designers create single or double glazed interior partitions, with glass channels oriented vertically or horizontally, depending on the desired aesthetic. Vertical channel glass systems can be also custom-curved, facilitating dramatic interior geometries. We engineer our proprietary interior frames for the demands of each specific application. The frames permit “dry- gasket” assembly, eliminating the need for silicone sealants. Dry-gasket assembly speeds installation, reduces labor costs, and creates a superior aesthetic, while offering impeccable joint connections.
In addition to the recent Interior Design Best of Year Merit Award, the Blaffer Art Museum also won the 2013 AIA Houston Design Award for Renovation/Restoration. These recognitions are an inspiring acknowledgement of the role architecture and design play in the lives of people and communities. We are proud to have partnered with WORKac on this project.

Bendheim Turns Josef Frank’s Delicate Fabric Into Impervious Glass Backsplash in NYC Residence

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A Bendheim glass backsplash featuring Josef Frank’s fabric enlivens a reserved kitchen décor in a recently renovated New York City residence. Manhattan-based architecture and design studio Incorporated worked with Bendheim to turn a piece of delicate, translucent fabric designed by the famous architect into a durable and functional design element, taking the concept of decorative glass backsplash to a new aesthetic level.
Incorporated sought to use the fabric treasured by the homeowner as an integral part of the extensive renovation of the 4,700 square foot residence. Inserting this fine, decorative material behind the range creates an element of surprise and achieves an energizing juxtaposition with the understated kitchen décor, bringing the space in line with the apartment design’s vibrant character.
“It’s this delicate material; it shouldn’t be there—this place where it can get oily—yet it’s probably one of the more durable backsplashes we’ve done, because it has no joints,” said Drew Stuart, a partner at Incorporated.
The continuous, non-porous, naturally hygienic float glass surface, free of grout lines, makes this custom backsplash an exceptionally maintenance-friendly kitchen feature. Glass is easier to clean and maintain than most other kitchen backsplash materials. Tile requires homeowners to maintain grout joints; stone slabs can discolor over time; and stainless steel shows every speck of dirt and cooking oil.
“The fabric and glass combination is nearly infinitely customizable,” said Stuart. “There are only so many tile colors and stone options. Fabrics can be tailored to each individual and truly broaden the homeowner’s options.”
Bendheim laminated the fabric between ultra-clear, low-iron glass, and precision-fabricated the piece to exacting specifications, fulfilling Incorporated’s vision. While the elegant simplicity of the backsplash implies effortless design, Bendheim and Incorporated solved a number of challenges before the finished piece was ready for installation. Bendheim had to perfect the interlayer binding the fabric to the glass, and worked closely with Incorporated to select the precise motif from the large, repeat pattern to achieve the desired finished look.
Incorporated has collaborated with Bendheim on a number of custom design solutions. With many years of experience helping architects and designers turn their ideas into reality, Bendheim was the perfect partner for the project. The company’s fully vertically integrated fabrication provides in-house automated cutting, polishing, waterjet, tempering, lamination, and back-painting services. These capabilities ensure the finest quality and timely delivery.

Bendheim Channel Glass Crowns West Court of Renovated National Academy of Sciences

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Bendheim Wall Systems’ Lamberts channel glass graces the recently renovated West Court of the National Academy of Sciences’ headquarters, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The walls of specialty channel glass contribute to the sustainable preservation mission of this comprehensive renovation project that integrates modern systems, materials, and infrastructure within the historic fabric of the building.
The architects’ work received the State Historic Preservation Officer’s Award at the 2013 District of Columbia Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation and the Award of Excellence in Historic Architecture from the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
“Each phase of the National Academy of Sciences headquarters—the original 1924 structure, the mid-century modern additions, and the new modernization and infill—is singularly of its time in terms of design and craftsmanship,” explains Larry Barr, Senior Principal at Quinn Evans Architects, the architectural firm in charge of the project. “The addition of channel glass is in keeping with that objective. It is a distinctive, high-quality material that uses recycled glass and reflects sophisticated production technology.”
Three courtyards were enclosed with skylights to create new pre-function, display, dining, and meeting spaces. As a design solution, Bendheim Wall Systems provided double-glazed Lamberts Rough Cast glass, with its 60% recycled content, moderate translucency and superior light scattering properties. The channel glass installation incorporates the company’s SF60 frame system in 10 vertical openings. The glass features Low-e coating and a 100% recycled thermal insulation interlayer providing optimal energy performance for the building.
“The channel glass exhibits a timeless, expert level of craftsmanship that complements the detailing throughout this beautiful historic building,” adds Mr. Barr. “As a practical matter, the opaque quality of the channel glass was particularly useful in the interior courtyards that we transitioned into meeting areas. The glass crowns the spaces and brings in daylight, but screens the rooftop mechanical equipment that would otherwise be visible.”
Lamberts channel glass is produced with up to 60% recycled content, carefully selected from the municipal waste stream. Manufactured in Europe’s only clean-burning, oxygen-fueled cast glass plant, it is also the only factory-produced tempered channel glass certified by the Safety Glazing Certification Council (SGCC) and available with a 100% heat soak testing.