Glass is vital to the aesthetic of nearly every modern structure—increasing natural light, curbing sound, protecting against inclement weather and offering a view to the external world. While glass has always been favored for its aesthetic versatility, it has quietly and reliably evolved into a critical component that can add beauty, structural integrity and fire protection to rooms and buildings, as well.

Choosing the right architectural glass is crucial to a successful project. For more informed decisions in the evaluation, selection and specification of architectural glass, Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG glass) recommends becoming familiar with the properties and benefits of the four most common glass types: low-e coated glass, clear glass, low-iron glass and tinted 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.

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.

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.

When designing with large expanses of glass, it is critical to know when the glass may need to be heat-treated for durability and/or safety. The type of processing required—heat strengthening or tempering—depends on the specific application.

Accommodating for wind and snow is one of the important upfront considerations in the design and specification process. There is a multi-step process that must be undertaken to help ensure the glass in your project is able to resist these loads.

Sometimes glass breaks in a building without any obvious cause. When this occurs, it could be due to glass edge damage or surface damage from handling and glazing that then weakens the glass during high winds, building or framing system movement, vandalism or a specific type of inclusion inside the glass. There are more than 50 types of inclusions in float glass, and while the most widely discussed is a nickel sulfide stone, this type of inclusion actually occurs very rarely.