Seeing Clear

Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while now knows I’m a big fan of architectural glass—especially when it’s used in innovative, exciting applications. I’ve written about examining the glass in storefronts and hotel rooms, sometimes even crouching in the streets to see what type of glass is being used. I’ve even been in restaurant bathrooms where glass was used extensively, from the stall doors to the counter tops.

The most exciting, glass-clad bathroom I’ve yet to view was at Chicago’s Sushi Samba restaurant; I took the picture you see here of the entrance. It was dark in restaurant and a camera phone doesn’t take the best quality pictures, so it’s hard to see all of the glass and to truly get the full effect, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what it was like—I’d never seen anything like it. In addition to the floating glass mirrors, there were also frosted glass stall doors and even a glass shelf (you know, for a lady’s purse).

But there was more glass than just the restroom—railings, banisters, the bar top, walls. It was a lot of fun to see. You can go to the website, www.sushisamba.com and see a photo gallery of the Chicago restaurant, but it’s just not the same as seeing it for yourself.

Aside from the fact that Chicago is just a great city, it’s also a great place for glass and architecture--stroll down Michigan Avenue and you’ll see that. Lots of big cities are moving toward increasingly transparent architecture. You may have seen this story on USGNN.com yesterday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/26/ST2007122601985.html that talked about how Washington, D.C. architects are taking their designs away from the boxy, brick and limestone buildings and using more glass.

Transparency is certainly an architectural trend these days and one that looks to have staying power for some time to come. Do you agree? Is transparency here to stay? Let us know what you think.

Safe & Sound

I’m going to share a story with you that, while may seem humorous at first, is actually, pretty scary. A while back I locked myself out of the house. I was in a hurry, my arms were full, and as I stepped into the garage, closing the door behind me I realized that I’d left the keys inside. Smart. Luckily, I had my purse and in it were my cell phone and my wallet. Good thing about that. It was a little after 5 p.m., I had to be somewhere at 5:30, and the drive to get there would take about 15 minutes.

So what did I do? I called my husband. Of course, I had no idea how he could help me, if at all, being that he was a good 45 miles away at work.

He asked me, “Do you have your purse?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a credit card or something like that?”
“Yes.”And on that note, over the telephone and in fewer than five minutes, he told me exactly how to jimmy that door open with a credit card. I grabbed my keys and was off (after relocking the door, of course.)

As I drove, all I could think was, it can be just that easy to break into someone’s home. Now, this particular door, which goes from the kitchen to the garage, has a simple lock; if there had been a deadbolt I would have been out of luck. I know this is nothing you don’t already know—locks can be easy to break.

We are living in a world where the need for security is increasing. I know when I’m at home every door and window is locked. Look at big offices and buildings with their sleek all-glass entrance systems. Building owners and managers want to know exactly who is coming and going inside their offices.

Not only are we seeing more electrified access control systems, but more biometrics, too. With biometrics, entrance is granted based on individual biological characteristics, such as a fingerprint. Fingerprints and retina scans are a lot tougher to steal or copy than a PIN number or a swipe card.

I’d like to know, what’s the glass industry think of biometrics? Have you been exposed to this type of product? If not, how much more are you doing with electrified systems these days? And what do you foresee for the future when it comes to keeping buildings—especially those with glass entrance systems—more secure? Let us know what you think.

My Specific Top 5 Industry Events and Why

Over the past almost eight years I've done my fair share of travel, from the exciting to the not-so exciting; big cities to small cities. And as we come to the end of 2007 and prepare for all the travel that awaits us in 2008, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite events.

#5: GANA’s Building Envelope Contractors (BEC) Educational Seminar for Project Managers, June 1-3, 2000 in Dallas (today called the Contract Glazier’s Educational Conference). This was my very first industry educational conference. I went not knowing much of anything about glass (I’d only been in the industry four months). There was talk of contracts and bid documents, high performance coatings, testing, installations and I was taking notes as fast as I could write. The meeting also gave me the chance to do my first industry plant tour – Vistawall. When I left Dallas I still didn’t know as much as I do today, but I knew more than I when I started. And while it still took a while to really understand some things, like anything else, it’s a learning process, and that’s how I try and look at everything I do.

#4: Vitrum 2003 in Milan took place June 25-28, not it’s usual October showing. Many of you who attended will remember, Milan saw record high temps during the show week. While the days were long and the weather scorching, I walked the halls of that show excited and optimistic of what I would see and learn. The show may not be as large as glasstec, but it’s still larger than our shows here and I covered it for the magazine alone. While that may not sound like a great achievement to those of you outside the editorial world, to me it was an accomplishment that I found helped me not only further what I knew about the North American industry, but the international industry, too.

#3: Building Envelope Contractors Conference, Las Vegas, February 20-25 2005. This meeting has become the place to be for the commercial glass and glazing industry. From the biggest to the smallest, contract glaziers flock to Vegas for this annual event. My trip there in 2005 was not my first time there, but it was the first time I presented before such a large group—300+. I was both excited and nervous when I stood before the attendees to share with them the results of the USGlass contract glazing survey. But in the end, it went really, really well. I provided attendees with some information that some later told me was both valuable and helpful. So I know now, that if given the opportunity, I could, without a doubt, do it again.

#2: Glass Processing Days, June 17-20 2005. Flying to Finland is no short trip. But if you want to know what all the world’s greatest glass minds are thinking and doing, you got to go. Sure, some of the sessions are so technical you leave cross-eyed, but the knowledge and experience and the contacts you gain from that meeting are hard to beat. Plus, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you, the networking and social activities are pretty top-notch, too. After all, it is the land of the midnight sun.

#1: Who knows? That next best thing is still waiting to be discovered. You see, every time I go somewhere or attend a meeting, it’s my number-one favorite. That’s how I try to take everything that comes my way. I like to learn new things and stay open-minded to the developments and changes that are taking place constantly.

Why all this list talk? You ask. Because USGlass is preparing for its Annual Big Book of Lists, which will be in the March 2008 issue. Be on the lookout for more information as to how your company can be considered for one of the many categories.

Outside the Glass Box

I saw this link (http://www.thestar.com/living/article/280592) on USGNN this week and I was intrigued. The article talks about how construction of condos in Toronto is moving away from window wall and toward curtainwall … “a new industrial style.” Reading that curtainwall was “a new industrial style” made me pause. I know the word “curtainwall” is not usually part of the typical family’s dinnertime conversation … “Honey, did you see that new curtainwall going up downtown?” … but the technology has been around a long, long time.

Before I continue, let me say that I know the article is geared toward a Canadian audience, but still, curtainwall is not a new technology—not even in Canada, and specifically, the Toronto area. Alumicor has been in business there since 1959 and Fulton Windows in Mississauga, now part of Oldcastle Glass, has been in operations since 1977. And sure, I understand that maybe curtainwall is new for the condo market there, but not for high-rise commercial. In fact, the article goes on to talk about how these new condos are being constructed in a way that will resemble other towers in their given areas.

I did a bit of research on the history of curtainwall. I found that the first curtainwall in New York City was the Lever House, constructed in 1951-1952, and designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Here’s a Wikipedia link if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_House.

While the “glass box” style may not be as popular today as it was 25 years ago, glass is still a hot design product for architects. Transparency is a buzzword of late, and thanks to so many structural glazing systems and technologies it’s easy for architects to achieve that look.

I know that a lot of what we see here architecturally in the United States originated in Europe. Technologies that may seem old hat there are new and exciting here. If you’ve learned a trend or found inspiration and ideas from something you saw somewhere else, be it Europe, Asia or anywhere else, tell us about it