PITTSBURGH, February 11, 2021 — Transforming an opaque recycling center into a hip, daylit-filled creative office space, Gensler chose Solarban^® 70 glass to glaze large windows, clerestories and skylights for UPCycle in East Austin, Texas, a 2020 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE^®) Top Ten Award winner.

Preserving the neighborhood character of Austin’s vibrant 6th Street corridor, Gensler focused this adaptive reuse project on enhancing the street-level experience with deep, inset porches framed by large operable glass doors. The fenestration, fabricated with Solarban^® 70 glass, creates inviting indoor/outdoor residential-style porches on the building’s east façade, while large, covered patios on the north and south further enhance outdoor connections.

In addition, Gensler created a series of skylights along the building’s east and west sides. Two sets of clerestory windows run through the center on each side of the inverted metal roof.

As the most commonly specified triple-silver-coated glass in the industry, Solarban^® 70 glass features a transparent color-neutral aesthetic and blocks 73 percent of the sun’s heat energy while letting in 64 percent of its visible light. Outdoor views are delivered to 91% of UPCycle’s occupant workstations and predicted lighting power density is just 0.27 watt-per-square-foot (w/sf).

The colorful spacious common areas foster flexibility, openness and collaboration among the facility’s creative hi-tech tenants. In a post-occupancy survey, building occupants overwhelmingly reported the amount of natural light and views from within the space are their favorite aspects of the building.

For more information about Solarban^® 70 glass and the rest of Vitro Glass’s full line of architectural glasses, visit www.vitroglazings.com or call 1-855-VTRO-GLS (887-6457).

About Vitro Architectural Glass

Vitro Architectural Glass, part of Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: VITROA), is the largest glass producer in the Western Hemisphere, manufacturing a range of industry-leading, energy-efficient, high-performance products such as Solarban^®, Sungate^® and Starphire Ultra-Clear^® glasses. Committed to continually raising the industry standard for sustainability, Vitro was the first U.S. glass manufacturer to have its complete collection of architectural glass products earn Cradle to Cradle Certified^® status and the first North American manufacturer to publish third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for flat glass and processed glass products. Additionally, as of April 2024, all Vitro architectural glass products meet the Top 20% Low Embodied Carbon (LEC) material Global Warming Potential (GWP) threshold the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) established pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and related guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Vitro operates seven glass production facilities across North America, four residential glass fabrication plants in Canada and one of the world’s largest glass research and development facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit VitroGlazings.com.

Media Contact:
Robert J. Struble
Vitro Architectural Glass
412-820-8138
rstruble@vitro.com
www.vitroglazings.com