The Elbe Philharmonic is perhaps one of the most famous examples of modern architecture. The giant glass "crown" built by Herzog & de Meuron over the old port warehouse includes not only one of the largest and most acoustically perfect halls in the world, but also restaurants, a hotel, a fitness center and conference rooms. The height of the building is 108 m, it was opened in 2017, although construction began in 2007.
Intricate undulating glass facade
The impressive 21,800 m² glass façade of the new building is partly - on a surface of about 5,000 m² - made of curved glass panels that make its structure resemble a huge quartz crystal, and its appearance is constantly changing, being composed of moving reflections of sky, water and city lights.-
The glass façade was developed by Josef Gartner GmbH. The windows are made of both flat and curved double-glazed windows, while curved single-chamber triplex double-glazed windows are used for the outer covered galleries. One of the most difficult tasks was the development of curved glass parts of the facade - until now, no one had ever bent glass with such a complex 3D geometry.
Another challenge was maintaining the function of the various glass coatings during the manufacturing process. The glazing includes energy-efficient and sun-protection spraying, chrome mirror dots and ceramic silk-screen printing. The sunscreen and chrome dots were critical to meeting specifications, but Josef Gartner feared that the high temperatures of the bending oven could break or negatively impact these layers.
“We negotiated with many companies, but only Guardian was able to offer us a base coat to ensure that the sun protection coating retains its performance during production,” says Karl Lindenmaier, project manager for the Elbe Philharmonic from Josef Gartner. "Working closely with the Guardian, we have been able to ensure that customer requirements are met."
The Guardian Glass team worked actively with Gartner during the facade design phase and also worked closely with the curved glass panel manufacturer SunGlass Srl. As a result, curved glass panels meet all the requirements of architects in terms of technical performance and aesthetics.
Guardian Glass Products
Herzog & de Meuron architects choose Guardian ExtraClear float glass® as the base glass for the entire façade due to its transparency, aesthetics and technical characteristics. In the meantime, there is no need to know about it.”
The Guardian also donated its SunGuard glass® Solar Light Blue 52. This glass has demonstrated the necessary stability during the bending process, while meeting all the requirements of the architects. In a standard glass unit *, SunGuard Solar Light Blue 52 provides 47% visible light transmission. This glass unit also has a low solar factor - 36%, which allows to reduce the requirements for the building air conditioning system and control the temperature inside it. What's more, the SunGuard Solar Light Blue 52 coating made it possible to silk-screen directly onto the surface. In the meantime, there is no need to know about it.”
To ensure the performance of curved insulating glass in windows, Guardian has offered its energy efficient ClimaGuard coated glass.® DT. This product combines characteristics such as neutrality, heat conservation, stability and ease of processing. Glass has shown an unusually high resistance to bending while meeting all the requirements of architects.
Maintenance
Guardian not only provided its high performance glass products, but also provided technical support, including thermal and spectrophotometric calculations, as well as thermal shock risk analyzes of the glazing. With its vast experience and knowledge base, Guardian has also been able to provide invaluable advice and guidance on bending and silk-screening coated glass.
* 6mm SunGuard Solar Light Blue 52, Coating # 2 - 16mm Argon - 4mm Guardian ClimaGuard Premium2, Coating # 3 Material Courtesy of Guardian Glass
