Designing for daylighting
Full-surface etched glass wasn’t the one doable selection for this venture, although. Through the preliminary product choice course of, Design Collective’s Director of Sustainability, Seonhee Kim, thought-about each AviProtek® E patterned chicken pleasant glass and Walker Textures® full-surface etched glass. Each approaches are confirmed bird-safe glass choices. Each will be mixed with Solarban® low-e coatings to enhance power effectivity. Each ship as much as 90% seen gentle transmittance, effectively over the venture’s necessities. Nonetheless, a full-surface etch has one benefit over patterned glass: it diffuses daylight.
Skylights just like the Nationwide Aquarium’s glass pyramid can convey huge quantities of direct daylight into an area, which dangers burning the leaves of crops and creating uncomfortable glare for guests. Extremely-clear glass can current a further problem, merely due to the quantity of sunshine that passes by way of the glass. Happily, fixing this drawback will be so simple as utilizing full-surface etched or “frosted” glass. The matte end doesn’t scale back the quantity of sunshine that enters a constructing, but it surely scatters and distributes gentle all through the house. This eliminates direct sunbeams and “scorching spots”, making the atmosphere rather more snug for the crops, animals and people inside.
How has this performed out on the Nationwide Aquarium? Ken Howell instructed us, “the crops and animals dwelling beneath the glass within the rainforest exhibit have responded very favorably to the glass supplied.”