Glass is one of today’s most versatile building materials due to its virtually unlimited aesthetic options and outstanding energy characteristics. The breadth of glass colors available is one reason why glass is so aesthetically versatile. But how does the industry ensure precise color accuracy in glass coatings? And how do you read color in glass?

Heat-treated glass provides both the durability and safety found in many of the world’s most visually breathtaking buildings.

But manufacturing heat-treated glass is a complex and multi-step process. This video provides an explanation of how insulating glass units (IGUs), spandrel glass, tempered glass and heat-strengthened glass are manufactured, courtesy of United Plate Glass in West Butler, PA.

Placement of a laminated lite within an insulating glass unit (IGU) is key to how its glazing system will perform. INSLIP and INSLOP are two commonly used terms to help designers position laminated glass properly.

Here's an explanation of how bent and laminated glass is made, courtesy of Standard Bent Glass in East Butler, PA.

First, large sheets of glass are scored into a range of end-use sizes. Then, these individual lites of glass are edged on a vertical line and sent to a large industrial washer. Next, they either get laminated or bent.

A Partnership Mother Nature Would Approve Of: Award-Winning Bird-Friendly AviProtek^® and Solarban^® Solar Control Low-e Glass

Each year, more than 600 million birds die from collisions with glass in the United States alone. Although bird-friendly building regulations continue to increase in North America, glazing options have been limited.

Here’s a quick demonstration that will give you an understanding of low-emissivity or low-e glass.

There are a wide range of glasses to choose from to meet the needs of any project. Spandrel glass is one such option.

Unlike vision glass, which is meant to be transparent, spandrel glass is designed to be opaque in order to help hide features between the floors of a building, including vents, wires, slab ends and mechanical equipment.

For years, UV light transmittance used to be thought of as the measure of a glazing material's ability to protect furnishings from fading due to sunlight exposure. Now, ISO Damage Weighted Transmittance, or Tdw-ISO, is considered the most accurate criterion for assessing potential fading damage.