PITTSBURGH, August 22, 2019 — Vitro Architectural Glass announced today that Solarban^® 72 Starphire Ultra-Clear^® and Solarban^® 70 solar control, low-emissivity (low-e) glasses were specified for Jewel Changi airport in Singapore, which features a multi-faceted glass dome covering 1.7 million square feet of terraced gardens, retail and restaurant space, lodging, terminal operations, a suspended glass-bottomed bridge and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.

Designed by Safdie Architects, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the $1.2 billion structure incorporates more than 550,000 square-feet of Solarban^® 70 glass, which was selected for its exceptional combination of transparency and solar control, as well as its ability to support plant life, deflect and absorb radar signals, and to fulfill the specific acoustical demands of one of the world’s busiest airports.

Throughout construction of the building, which took nearly five years to complete, representatives of Vitro Glass worked with numerous consultants who prescribed specific tolerances for radar-absorption, radar-signal reflectivity, noise insulation, glare mitigation, light transmittance and overall occupant comfort.

The glass dome, which consists of a continuous grid shell supported by 14 ring-like columns and ring beam at the roof’s edge, extends more than 650 feet across its longest span. GnT Glass Company, Ltd., based in Guangdong Province, China, fabricated more than 9,000 triangles of double-glazed Solarban^® 70 glass, with no more than two units shaped precisely the same way. A 16-millimeter air space between the two panels in the insulating glass units (IGU) was specified to insulate against aircraft noise.

The Jewel also features two glass-walled pedestrian bridges. They were fabricated by Wujiang Golden Glass Technologies of China’s Jiangsu Province with Solarban^® 72 triple-silver low-e coating over Starphire Ultra-Clear^® glass, the industry’s most transparent architectural glass.

Annissa Flickinger, international architectural manager, Vitro Architectural Glass, said Solarban^® 70 glass was specified for the dome after a rigorous evaluation process. “There was a lot of competition for this project,” she explained. “After all the testing was done, the architect determined that Solarban^® 70 glass was the best fit. The legacy we established with other high-profile international airports, such as Suvarnabhum International Airport in Bangkok and Queen Alia Airport in Amman, further confirmed their trust in us.”

In a standard one-inch IGU with clear glass, Solarban^® 70 glass has visible light transmittance (VLT) of 64 percent and solar hear gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.27, making it one of the highest performing products in the industry. Solarban^® 72 Starphire^® glass has a VLT of 68 percent and a SHGC of 0.28 in the same configuration.

To learn more about Solarban^® 70 or Solarban^® 72 Starphire^® glass, visit www.vitroglazings.com or call (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