Bendheim’s Optichroic® Glass & Unitized Channel Glass Wall Systems Win Product Innovation Awards

Bendheim is the proud recipient of two of the inaugural Product Innovation Awards (PIAs) by Architectural Products Magazine. PIAs recognize innovation in products, materials, and systems that lead commercial and institutional design to new heights. Bendheim’s Optichroic^® Laminated Dichroic Glass was honored in the “Surfaces: Multi-Surface” category, while Bendheim’s Channel Glass Wall Systems earned an award in the “Products in Application” category.

Winners of Architectural Products’ PIAs are outstanding products and applications within the built environment. A panel of 44 architects, designers, and specifiers selected the winning entries from approximately 300 submissions for their superior qualities, functionality, and performance.

“Employing contemporary technological innovation to advance design is the hallmark of architectural progression,” commented one of the judges evaluating products in the Surface category. “The Optichroic Laminated Dichroic Glass achieves that goal.”

Bendheim’s Optichroic^® Laminated Glass is the first dichroic glass of its type for architectural applications, available in maximum sheet sizes of 54 by 120 inches. Due to its unique ability to capture and radiate the full color spectrum of light, the glass has been featured in a variety of applications, including signage at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the Times Square Building in New York City, where Optichroic helped modernize elevator cabs with dazzling contemporary wall cladding.

Bendheim Wall Systems won the award for its role as the main exterior design element in The Schermerhorn House, an affordable housing project in Brooklyn, NY. Ennead Architects utilized Bendheim’s Lamberts^® channel glass in a highly creative manner for this budget-sensitive project. Our innovative H60 Unitized Frame System permitted the 57 channel glass units to be pre-assembled off-site and hoisted into place allowing the building to be enclosed more quickly than conventional site-built assemblies. The horizontal orientation of the channels maximizes the use of annealed glass and minimizes the amount of more costly tempered glass. Commingling obscuring textured glass channels with clear vision channels eliminated the need for integrating separate window units. The 57 double-glazed, unitized H60 assemblies incorporate over 7,000 square feet of our channel glass, creating the appearance of glass columns rising up the facade. It is the largest horizontal channel glass application in the United States.