GPD Opening Sessions Highlight the In/Visible Power of Glass

Glass Performance Days (GPD) is about people, networking, knowledge and innovation. That was the opening statement of Miika Äppelqvist, Glaston Corp.’s newly appointed president and CEO.

“My first GPD was back in 2009,” he said. “If I look at the past 15 years from the glass industry’s point of view, development has been tremendous. And many of you have been part of this successful journey, helping us to get where we are now.”

This year’s GPD is not short on innovation.

The In/Visible Impact

This year’s GPD theme is “Glass – The In/Visible Impact.” Many of the event’s discussions focus on how visible glass is invisible in the sense of the technology and innovation driving performance.

Thin glass, for example, is one of the topics covered on the agenda. During the opening session, Äppelqvist and Thomas Bertin-Mourot, director of innovation, growth and advanced windows at Corning Inc., discussed a case study that addressed Corning’s recent innovation to drive the growth of ultra-thin glass.

Although the original idea to form a thin glass fusion draw stems from the 1960s automotive industry, it was not until 1991 that using a thin glass for thin triple pane was patented by LBNL.

“And it took another 30 years to turn this idea into a real market application for architectural use once the capability existed,” noted Bertin-Mourot.

He added that embedding thin glass into an insulating glass unit (IGU) can enhance the window’s thermal, acoustic and comfort performance. However, the glass industry’s challenge continues to evolve around reducing the building industry’s carbon and energy footprint. Bertin-Mourot said thin glass can help solve that challenge.

“The window is the low-hanging fruit to help the building envelope get better thermal performance,” he said.

While placing a thin glass panel between the two larger panels was patented in 1991, Bertin-Mourot explained that the technology to make it did not yet exist. That has since changed. Glaston, one of the believers in the technology, has since modified its automated TPS insulating glass production line to produce thin glass triples.

“Ultra-thin glass is helping the industry solve critical challenges,” said Bertin-Mourot. “Glass accounts for approximately 10% of a building’s surface but 50% of the energy losses. When you embed a credit-card-thin glass pane into an insulating glass unit, you can significantly improve acoustic, comfort, and most importantly, energy and sustainability performance. This brings window performance up to the energy-efficiency level of the wall.”

An Architect’s Point of View

Jenny B. Osuldsen, a partner at the Norwegian global transdisciplinary architectural firm Snøhetta, showcased several projects that make an in/visible impact to improve the world. Osuldsen, a landscape architect, stressed the importance of sustainability and circularity.

“The environmental crisis is all around,” she said. “Material consumption is massive. We need to work with ideas and concepts to reduce it.”

Some of the projects she discussed included the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, where the sloping roof was built to serve as a public space. Speaking of contextualized concepts, she shared a look at Viewpoints, the Norwegian Wild Reindeer Pavilion. Overlooking the mountain Snøhetta, the wooden and glass pavilion allows visitors to view reindeer in their natural habitat without disturbing them.

Osuldsen also discussed the importance of renovating existing buildings rather than building new ones. She noted that the amount of material consumed by the global economy has passed 100 billion tons, and only 8.6% is cycled back into the global economy.

“We’ve built so much on the earth already,” she said. “Now, we need to think about how to reuse everything we’ve built.”GPD continues through June 12. Stay tuned to usglassmag.com for more updates and follow us on social media.