Handle with care

The glass facade at the Standard Chartered building in DIFC has been designed to keep the light intake to a minimum.
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An architects’ first choice,  glass, adds to the visual appeal of a building. With glass coatings and glazing, it is possible to improve the energy efficiency of a building. Features Editor Shikha Mishra reports.

Acclaimed architect Bruno Taut said, “If we want our culture to rise to a higher level, we are obligated for better or for worse, to change our architecture. And this only becomes possible if we take away the closed character from the rooms in which we live. We can only do that by introducing glass architecture, which lets in the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars.”

But in the Middle East, when we let in the light of the sun, we also let in huge amounts of heat that requires powerful air-conditioning to cool down which leads to high energy costs. Glass is a bad conductor of heat and its use should be limited in buildings, which is usually an impossible task.

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“In theory we should all be living in concrete boxes. But, human nature is such that we all want to see a view of the outside. We need daylight, so glass is our connection between the indoor and outdoor environment.

Opaque materials such as walls and floors can be insulated as much as needed. But we need the transparency of glass, so it cannot be insulated,” says Arhtur Millwood., technical consultant, Emirates Glass.

The shortfalls of glass as a construction material have to be accepted and worked upon. Products such as Low-e glass coatings work by reflecting or absorbing IR light (heat energy).

“Low-e glass has been a recent development. We are also expecting developments in glass technology that will offer coated glass that costs less,” says Raymond D’mello, general manager, Excel Glass & Aluminium.

To keep out the heat, glass has to be coated with a thin and transparent film of various materials.

“Coatings such as stainless steel, titanium, metal chrome or silver – are different types of materials that can be used to coat glass,” says Millwood.

Glass is usually tinted, coated or double glazed to keep the heat intake to a minimum.

“We are trying with our products, very successfully, to keep heat out. Glass also has very aesthetic qualities which are beautiful. The colour we see in Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s architecture comes from glass. We are reaching close to the technological limit of glass’s ability to keep out the heat,” says Millwood.