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IT’S QUITE ASTOUNDING
IF WE DIP INTO THE DOUBLE-GLAZED
SCENARIO OF LIGHTBRIDGE™. IT’S WELL
BEYOND COMPLIANCE OF U-VALUES
AND THE SHADING COEFFICIENT OF
THE BUILDING CODE OF AUSTRALIA
AND SECTION J.
Julian Brenchley, Architect
LightBridge™ is an exciting new Viridian product.
What’s your view and understanding of it?
I view any of its products—and there are some amazing
ones—as a constant evolution of glass technology. First
came float glass and then we became excited about
laminated safety and toughened glass. New glass firing
techniques see various ceramics or carbons added to
create glass that can do things we didn’t believe possible.
The benefits of heat retention and low solar gain glass are
very obvious. LightBridge™ has thermal properties over
and above what you’d expect. In my view it’s as good in
a thermal performance sense as most walls. It’s quite
astounding if we dip into the double glazed scenario of
LightBridge™. It’s well beyond compliance of U-values and
the shading coefficient of the building code of Australia
and Section J.
So new frontiers are now possible for glass?
It’s definitely opening up opportunities. Glass products
such as LightBridge™ are creating those openings for
designers. That’s a real bonus. The big point about all
of that is architecture in a built environment is very
conservative and traditional. It’s very exciting to be able
to explore new products directly from the source.
That’s a great opportunity for me.
One of the very appealing features of LightBridge™
for this project is the use of a clear glass that is a return
in appearance to the ‘60s and ‘70s. The ‘80s and ‘90s
were very much about tinted glass. The clarity of
LightBridge™ has an authenticity with that era, but
offers remarkable performance characteristics by
comparison with glazing of that era.
When people referred to high performance,
environmentally rated, or sustainable glass, you’d think
SuperGreen™, or one of those shades. You walk into
buildings that now have SuperGreen™ and they’re
performance glass, I understand that. I find the green,
blue and grey tougher to realize. Now we have the
opportunity to use clear that offers exceptional,
environmental performance. And we’re not
changing the building color.