Our Projectable Glass Rainscreen System Wins Design Award

Our new projectable glass rainscreen system is a winner in Interior Design Magazine’s NYCxDESIGN awards. The innovative cladding solution helps architects create fully customizable facades that transform buildings and double as monumental projection screens. It presents several eco-smart innovations: from the ability to eliminate costly, carbon-heavy steel sub-structures to its bird-friendly glass design.

This year’s NYCxDESIGN award submissions totaled 553, from 225 manufacturers. Our system claimed the top honor in the competitive Architectural Products category. The fully customizable cladding system features engineered compression clips and a distinctive glass makeup. It fastens directly to buildings, eliminating the need for traditional steel supports and the shadow lines they cast. Along with the use of our new LumiFrit™ surface #1 fritted glass, it becomes an ideal canvass for monumental projected art.

At night, the glass cladding bounces front-projected light to create a sharp image. During the day, it creates a brilliant white aesthetic, as sunlight reflects off the fritted glass surface. The projectable glass can be imprinted with any custom pattern, including bird-safe designs. Maximum panel size can reach 84 x 165 inches.

Bendheim can custom design the system to the unique requirements of each project. The fittings are fully adjustable, and can be engineered with tolerances of several inches in multiple directions to facilitate speedy fabrication and installation. This built-in flexibility allows fabrication to begin from the approved architectural drawings, rather than precise field measurements, expediting the construction schedule by weeks or months. Field adjustability is also a time and cost saver for the installer.

Among The Momentary’s most striking new architectural features is an 80-foot-tall projectable glass rainscreen by Bendheim. Illuminated at night, seen here in blue, it becomes a beacon on the site. Photo courtesy of The Momentary, Bentonville, AR.

The Momentary in Bentonville, AR by Wheeler Kearns Architects is the world’s first building to use this rainscreen system as a 6,000 sq. ft. projection screen. The custom-imprinted glass scrim wraps an 80-foot tall concrete stair and elevator tower. It was tested as a projection surface – and stage – during the museum’s opening. A performance group staged a gravity-defying vertical ballet on the glass facade, while a dynamic light show was projected onto its surface.

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

The innovative system’s latest recognition follows its Architectural Record Editor’s Choice Award for Best Building Envelope Product of 2020.