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It includes that glass which is used as a structural material in buildings. Gone are the days when glass was mainly used in windows. Nowadays glass has wide applications. It can be used as an external architecture in facades,  windows, skylights, entrances, revolving doors and skywalks. As an interior glass architecture, it can be used in walls, floors, ceiling and staircases.

 Benefits of using glass in buildings:
• It allows light which makes smaller rooms look bigger.
• It is relatively inexpensive and fully recyclable.
• It adds beauty and enhances value of  your home.

The use of glass in architecture has increased because of innovations in glass like intelligent glass, solar control glass, fire resistant glass, laminated  glass, colored glass, textured glass, lacquered glass, design glass, glass blocks, etc.

The National Historic Landmark building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is one of the finest examples of Greek revival architecture in United States. The courtyard occupies the heart of building which was renovated by renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners. Foster + Partners worked closely with acclaimed landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson on the design of the interior which includes four of her signature water scrims. At 28,000 square feet, the courtyard is one of the largest public event spaces in Washington. This beautifully landscaped courtyard extends beyond its earthy nature as an interior space-climate controlled and comfortable all year around. The focus here is on the roof of the courtyard. The roof is completely clad in a white painted steel structure with a glass and aluminum exterior cladding system. It comprises of 864 panes of glass. The central dome marks the heart of the courtyard. The fluid form of the fully glazed roof canopy bathes the courtyard in natural light and its form complements the structure of old building. The roof acts as a climate modifier for sunlight, daylight and acoustics. During the day, the courtyard is used as an outside meeting space, while at night it is dramatically lit to create an events-space for the city, with a range of sound and light installations that can change the aspect of the building to suit different occasions
 

Sustainable architecture is the architectural design technique in which the reduction of environmental impact is main theme while constructing a building. The word sustainable means that “to maintain a balance of any process or state “. Similarly while constructing a building there are certain criteria to be full filed in order to obtain a health environment.

Environmental protection, economic and social development, in design, building, maintenance and occupation of buildings. These buildings are designed and constructed keeping in mind the environmental standards.

Sustainable buildings will help minimize energy requirements and help reduce water consumption, use materials like glass, wood etc, which are of low environmental impact e.g. low embodied energy and resource efficient, reduce wastage, conserve and enhance the natural environment and safeguard human health and well-being too.

While constructing a green home building, you must keep in mind certain factors:

Environmental factors: It is advisable to give due consideration to conservation and enhancement of the site ecology or biodiversity.
Look into how much energy is consumed: If suitable measures are taken to minimize energy consumption, high levels of insulation are adopted, it can help minimize energy consumption. Maximizing daylight and using energy efficient lighting and appliances can also help achieve the goals.

Transportation facilities: If the site of construction is nearby, it can help minimize the expenses. One should give due consideration to transport routes, proximity to amenities and places of work, space for home working also.
Water consumption: The quantity of water consumed, reusing rainwater, water efficient appliances, minimizing and attenuating surface water run-off to prevent flooding and pollution can all help save water.

Affordability: If it is proving very expensive, the cost of ownership can be minimized.
This can also help curb down the degradation of the environment to a large extent. The choices made now will influence the quality of life of the next generation. This can also enhance the look of the house. Sustainable building is not only eco friendly but also less expensive. Usage of natural, non-industrial materials, will also improve the energy equation when building.

Following certain green home building guidelines can help construct an environment friendly building. Apart from houses, architecture and design firms, construction and development, hospitality, and other service providers too have incorporated these guidelines. Such buildings are environment friendly. As compared to commercial sector, the residential sector has lagged behind.

Going in for such houses will help save a substantial amount of money too. Since, the products used for construction of houses are natural, they will be less expensive. You can make your contribution by opting for eco friendly houses. Looking online for information on construction of such houses can help get the required details about green home building. One can get all the required information about sustainable architecture and natural building.

 Source: Ezinearticles

Green architecture is architectural approach by which harmful impacts on air, water and our environment are reduced by using eco-friendly building materials.

Characteristics of Green architecture

•Energy efficient lighting
•Better Ventilation system to maintain heat and cool
•Alternate source of power by using solar energy
•Better usage of resources.

The Green building can be achieved by the following these steps
The first step is the Design for the glass building; it mainly focuses on taking advantage of the renewable resources.
• Allowing sunlight to flow through the passive and active solar photovoltaic options
• Use green roofs made of glass to reduce the heat.
• Installing high performance glass that will reduce the solar heat.

The next step in installation is the construction; it helps to identify the material and ensures sustainability. Some of the materials that are used are listed below.

• Solar control glass that keeps your rooms cool by reflecting unwanted solar heat and also allows natural light to flow in thus reducing energy bills.
• Recycled stone and metal and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable.
• Rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw
• Use building materials from local sources to minimize energy use due to their transportation.

The next step is the construction and maintenances

Once the construction of done with the renewable raw materials, maintenance is very important part, since the building should sustainable and profitable.

Consider the idea of design concepts taking into account the increased usage of natural light and temperature control services–the more natural used, the less maintenance of and dependency on furnaces, air conditioners, and lighting systems you will have to worry about, as they will be used less. Sustainable development attempts to minimize greenhouse gases, reduce global warming, preserve environmental resources, and provide communities that allow people to reach their fullest potentials.

Reduce Waste

The wastage of water is greatly reduced at several levels by making the building with the green architecture.
• on site waste management, such as separating garbage, recycling and compost
• The green building reduces the usage of the electricity by using solar control glass for windows which allows the light to flow in naturally.
• converting wastewater to fertilizer via a biogas plant, and more
Ultimately, from diverting waste from landfills in the construction process, to designing efficiently to minimize waste during operation, to ensuring on-site maintenance chooses efficient products and processes, keeping green concepts in mind throughout all stages of building life cycle will contribute to waste reduction.

Guidelines to built Green Buildings

1. Use solar control glass window, shutters or screens that keep the rooms cool during summer.
2. As the northern side of your house receives the most sun, the roof overhang should be longer (at least 40 cm to 60 cm) in length. Windows will be shaded in summer when the sun is high, while allowing the sun’s rays through the windows in winter when the angle of the sun is low.
3. Plant trees on the south, east and/or west of your home to provide shade during summer.
4. A skylight in the roof allows natural light into the house on sunny days and eliminates the use of artificial lighting. Make sure that the sloping glass of the skylight faces north.
5. Floors made out of brick or concrete maintain comfortable temperatures in your house as they are good at absorbing heat during the day and releasing this slowly at night. These floors should not be covered with carpets as a concrete floor absorbs more heat than a floor covered by carpeting.
6. Ensure suitable ventilation for fresh air and cool breezes - rooms can be ventilated using airbricks, forced ventilation or by opening windows.
7. Install efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems if required and ensure they are efficiently used. Be sure to shade the air conditioning unit outside with a tree.
8. Consider switching to green electricity. Green electricity is generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar and wave power.
9. Heat loss is ten times faster through glass windows than through insulated walls, so open the curtains during the day (let in the natural light and heat) and close them at night (keeps in the heat).
10. Install energy efficient light bulbs (CFLs) throughout the house. These are usually more expensive than conventional incandescent light bulbs, but have a much longer life-span and use far less electricity. They pay themselves back in a few months and are a very sound environmental choice.

Visit: Saint Gobain Glass India.

Olympia Tech Park, Chennai.

What is GreenBuilding?

A building which is constructed in order to promote the well being as well as reduce the negative impact on the environment through emphasis on life-cycle analysis is a Green Building.

This new integrated approach in design practices:

• Energy efficiency
• Pollution prevention
• Resource-efficient materials
• Improved indoor air quality
• Water conservation
• Waste minimization 

Why Focus on Sustainable Design?

The focus on sustainable design of green building would lead to many benefits such as

• Reduces the operating costs
• Improves human health
• Increases productivity
• Reduces liability
• Reduces overall impact on environment

By following the sustainable design while constructing the building, we avoid various impacts on the environmental such as depletion of natural resources, air and water pollution, solid and toxic wastes, deforestation global warming and other major negative impacts. Studies say that one-quarter of the entire world’s wood harvested are used for building and architectural purposes. It also proves that two-fifth of all material are used of the building constructions. So people around the world have understood the need of Green Buildings and the architect are coming up with new design of Green Building that helps and reduces the negative impacts on our environment.

ITC Green Center, Gurgaon

Wipro Technologies, Gurgaon.

Green building design criteria emphasizes the energy-efficient performance of fenestration materials and maximum use of natural daylight. Given this background, Glass is an indispensable material for green building. It has a wide range of functional benefits. Its transparency allows day-lighting of the interiors and integrates the interiors with the
exteriors. Studies have proven time and again that this substantially improves the productivity and health of the occupants of the building.

Glass is completely recyclable and non-toxic in nature. It satisfies all the ecological parameters of being the most sought after “green” building material in Green Buildings. Moreover it harmonizes a structure with its environment.

Glass has varied “Green” benefits of which, some of them are:

•Day-lighting - The use of glass brings in lot of light that helps in giving a high amount of natural day lighting instead of depending solely on artificial lighting thus reducing considerably electricity consumption.
•Blending interiors with exteriors (Views) - Glass facades give a spectacular view of the outside world from the cozy interiors.
•Recyclability - Glass being recyclable satisfies the important parameter of being a “Green” building material.
•Achieving energy efficiency - High performance glass helps in controlling the solar and thermal heat in the interiors and helps to maintain the temperature at its minimum best and in turn helps to tone down the air-conditioning expenses.
•Innovative application - Being very flexible building material glass helps to satisfy and capture an architect's Utmost imagination in its shape and form.
•Controls noise: Double glazed glass facades help in achieving a high degree of acoustic comfort by keeping away noise penetrating from the exteriors to the interiors thus ensuring a calmer atmosphere inside.
•Self Cleaning: The future belongs to self-cleaning glass which keeps itself clean on its own and brings out an ever sparkling effect.

Glass and LEED Rating

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. The LEED rating system for Green buildings has six major areas of which four have the potential to be tapped through
appropriate usage of High Performance Glass in design:

•Sustainable sites
•Water efficiency
•Energy and atmosphere
•Materials and resources
•Indoor environmental quality
•Innovation and design process

ENERGY & ATMOSPHERE (EA)
Optimize Energy Performance

The building facade, windows, doors, and skylights can be designed with high performance glass to meet the desired solar heat gain coefficient and U-value requirements. The use of glass can let in adequate daylight resulting in reduction of artificial lighting costs. A complete energy simulation for the building is possible nowadays and helps to
improve the energy performance of the design.

MATERIALS & RESOURCES (MR)
Regional Materials

The distance from the glass manufacturing/fabrication facility to the job site (within 500 miles radius) is a major factor in gaining points under the Regional Materials Credit.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (EQ)
Daylight and Views

High Performance glass from various glass manufacturers helps to blend the twin actions of achieving desired levels of daylight and transparency to enable external views. The letting in of natural light helps cut down on the artificial lighting costs.

INNOVATION & DESIGN PROCESS (ID)
Innovation in Design

Glass addresses needs such as Acoustic Insulation, Self-cleaning etc apart from the prescribed requirements of Energy Efficiency, Recyclability and Day-lighting. High performance glass when used in Double Glazed panels or as Laminated units provide higher degree of Acoustic Insulation that ward off unwanted noise from the external atmosphere.

Thus the overall innovative use of High Performance Glass in a building can fetch upto 13% of the overall points in the LEED Rating system.

It is a document that specifies the energy performance requirements for all commercial buildings that are to be constructed in India. Buildings with electrical connected load of 500 kW or more and it is also applicable to all buildings with a conditioned floor area of 1,000 m2 (10,000 ft2) or greater are also covered by the ECBC. It was launched on 28 June 2007 by India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

It was mandated by the Energy Conservation Act from 2001, by the Indian Government in September 2001.

It provides design norms to the following:

• Electrical System
• Water heating and pumping system
• Lighting and envelope system of a building.
• HVAC system that includes energy performance of chillers and distribution systems.
• Ventilating systems

This code does not apply to the following 

• Buildings that do not use either electricity or fossil fuel,
• Equipment and portions of building systems that use energy primarily for manufacturing processes
• Multi-family buildings of three or fewer stories above grade, and single-family buildings.

The Building which follow ECBC code are rated on 1- 5 star scale, with 5-Star labeled buildings being the most energy efficient. It is normally targeted three climatic zones for air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned office buildings:

         1. Warm and Humid
         2. Hot and Dry
         3. Composite

Energy Performance Index (EPI) in kWh / sq m/ year will be considered for rating the building. Bandwidths for Energy Performance Index for different climatic zones have been developed based on percentage air-conditioned space. For example a building in a composite climatic zone like New Delhi and having air conditioned area greater than 50% of their built up area, the bandwidths of EPI range between 190-90 kWh/sq m/year. Thus a building would get a 5-Star rating if its EPI falls below 90kWh/sq m/year and 1 Star if it is between 165-190 90kWh/sq m/year.

Similarly the same building in a warm and humid climatic zone like Chennai, the bandwidths of EPI range between 200-100 kWh/sq m/year and therefore it would get a 5-Star rating if its EPI is below 100 kWh/sq m/year and 1 Star if it is between 200-175 kWh/sq m/year.

Buildings having air conditioned area less than 50% of their built up area,in a in a composite climatic zone the bandwidths of EPI range between 80-40 kWh/sq m/year. Similarly the same building in a warm and humid climatic zone like Chennai, the bandwidths of EPI range between 85-45 kWh/sq m/year.
The Star rating Programme would provide public recognition to energy efficient buildings, and create a “demand side” pull for such buildings. Those buildings having a connected load of 500 kW and above would be considered for BEE star rating scheme.

EPI shall be kWh/sq.m/year in terms of purchased & generated electricity divided by built up area in sq.m. However the total electricity would not include electricity generated from on-site renewable sources such as solar photovoltaic etc.

The Bureau over the past 2 years, launched the Energy Conservation Building Code(ECBC) with the goal of specifying standards for new, large, efficient commercial buildings, as well as initiated a nationwide programme to upgrade the energy efficiency of existing government buildings through retrofitting, carried out by Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) in a performance Contracting mode.

30 St Mary Axe is the first environmentally sustainable skyscraper in London. It has been lovingly described as a lighthouse of 21st century architecture, and mocked as the "gherkin”. It was designed by Foster and Partners and constructed by Skanska. It has become not only an instantly recognizable landmark on London's skyline but an overnight icon of London itself.

 The building is stunning in appearance -- a festival of dark and light glass with spandrels

serving as streamers circling it like an Olympic dancer. The outside of the building consists of 24,000 square meters of glass arranged in diamond-shaped panes. Despite its overall curved glass shape, there is only one piece of curved glass on the building — the lens-shaped cap at the very top. At 180 m (590 ft), the building is the 6th tallest in London .On the 40th floor, which is the building's top level, is a bar for tenants and their guests featuring an unrivalled 360 degree view of London. An exclusive restaurant operates on the 39th floor, and private dining rooms on the 38th. The shape allows for the required quantity of office space to accommodate up to 4,000 workers without the lower levels overshadowing the surrounding buildings when viewed from street level, whilst the top tapers inwards in the manner of an organic set-back which does not eclipse the tower's shorter neighbors. The office areas consist of a double-glazed outer layer and a single-glazed inner screen, sandwiching a central ventilated cavity, containing

solar-control glass

. The cavities between the outer layer and inner screen act as a buffer, reducing the need for additional cooling and heating and are ventilated by exhaust air drawn from the offices. The lightwells, which penetrate deep into the tower's interior, reduce dependency on electric lighting and result in savings on electricity costs. The lightwells glazing comprises openable double-glazed panels and a high-performance coating which effectively reduces solar gain (

solar control glass

). The building will consume up to fifty percent less energy than a comparable high profile office tower.

A spectacular design from XPIRAL Architecture has sustainable features which made the house into news, Casa de los Pinos, the name of the house, which means House among the Pines; this house is situated in Mountain EI Esparragal, Murcia, Spain.
This House is built with the locally available materials to various parts of the house, like the timber is used built the pathways of the house. The walls are all built with glass which allows plenty of natural light, makes it a sustainable house. A grassy courtyard in the interior give the house a great look adding to it was the walls fashioned with the local Rocks. Major attraction of this house is its roof which folds over the home’s expansive windows. Again the trees that were removed during the construction were also replanted on the property. This house futuristic and sustainable design makes it icon among the locals.

Casa de los Pinos (House Among the Pines) proves that sustainable features need not play second fiddle to fashionable ones. This amazing modern house designed by XPIRAL Architecture sits high on a mountain in El Esparragal, Murcia, Spain, nestled among the pines for which it’s named. Enclosed in walls of glass, an interior grassy courtyard allows nature to permeate the design. Locally sourced building materials are used where possible, such as the rock fashioned into walls, and timber used to build the home’s pathways. And at the end of the day, the number of trees removed from the site was later replanted on the property. With sustainable design accounted for, the architects too took a modern, fashion-forward approach to the unique home, topping it with a futuristic roof which folds over to conceal the home’s expansive windows. Natural light floods interiors, illuminating modern, industrial details like exposed beams, concrete and the contemporary framed windows.XPIRAL via Inhabitat

  Source:Trendir.com

The American Institute of Architects selects top 10 Green projects every year. These projects should have to meet the sustainable features in all aspects. The following building has been selected as the top ten sustainable buildings.

1. Charles Hostler Student Center (VJAA) Beirut, Lebanon
2. Chartwell (EHDD Architecture) Seaside, CA
3. Gish Apartments (OJK Architecture and Planning) San Jose, CA
4. Great River Energy Headquarters (Perkins+Will) Maple Grove, MN
5. Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (Ross Barney Architects) Evanston, IL
6. Portola Valley Town Center (Siegel & Strain Architects) Portola Valley, CA
7. Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center (Lake|Flato Architects) Orange, TX
8. Synergy at Dockside Green (Busby Perkins+Will Architects Co.) Victoria, BC
9. The Terry Thomas (Weber Thompson) Seattle, WA
10. World Headquarters for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (DesignLAB Architects) Yarmouthport, MA

These Green buildings were built with material that has a low impact on environment, the carbon emission and energy usage is low and each building has it own unique feature that is environmental friendly. The GRE – Great River Energy Headquarters is achieved energy efficiency through technologies that can be transferred to their customers in order to reduce the future demand for fossil fuel electricity generation. Jewish Reconstuctionist congregation has been awarded with Platinum certification from LEED – US Green Building Council. This building has solar power lights, storm water storage system in order to achieve energy efficiency. AIA honoured these projects at its National Convention and Design Exposition in San Francisco that was held from 30th to May 2nd

Source: AIA

S.R. Crown Hall is considered one of Mies van der Rohe’s greatest masterpieces. Widely regarded as one of the most architecturally significant buildings of the 20th Century, Crown Hall was completed in 1956. Upon its opening, Mies van der Rohe declared it "the clearest structure we have done, the best to express our philosophy,” Crown Hall is a straightforward expression of construction and materiality, which allows the structure to transcend into art. Its refinement and innovation place it among the most distinguished buildings of its age and define its importance in the history of architecture. Designed to house Illinois Institute of Technology's departments of architecture, planning, and design, the building's dramatic, structurally-expressive form resulted from the need to create an open interior space that could be flexibly adapted for changing needs and uses.

The two storeyed building is in a  pure rectangular form, 220' by 120' by 24 feet high. The building is slightly raised on a platform with a grand flight of stairs at the entrance. Basement level is used for workshops, offices, toilet rooms etc. The roof is suspended from the underside of four steel plate girders which in turn are carried by eight exterior steel columns. These columns are spaced 60 feet apart with the roof cantilevered 20 feet at each end. It is characterized by clearly articulated exposed steel frame construction .The steel frame is composed of  large sheets of glass of varying qualities of transparency, resulting in a light and delicate steel and glass façade. While the lower level consists of compartmentalized rooms, the high upper floor level, occupying almost 50% of the total area of the building, is dedicated to a single glass-enclosed architecture studio space. Mies called it a "universal space", intended to be entirely flexible in use. Natural ventilation is provided by louvers at floor level. The front and back of Crown Hall are identical.

1n I975, the building underwent a major renovation which replaced all the original glass and it was repainted. The next thirty years saw little real change, and virtually no maintenance. The result was an extensive deterioration to the glazing system and a need for a major renovation. The restoration was completed in the late summer of 2005. The renovated Crown Hall is a dazzling aesthetic object. Its fresh coat of heavy-duty industrial paint (a brand called Tnemec, cement spelled backward) makes it stand out like a man in a black tuxedo against the blue August sky. The building's new sheathing -- big upper-level windows and beneath them smaller pairs of translucent windows with a sandblasted inner layer correctly restores Crown's transparency. Inside are more pleasant surprises, from the buffed black terrazzo floor to the spray-painted white ceiling tiles. Laminated glass is used in windows. Interior wood partitions and storage lockers are refinished and resurfaced, and additional electrical and ethernet wiring are added to the main floor.

Awards
•Landmarks Preservation Council Of  Illinois – Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation  Project of the Year, 2006
•AIA Chicago – Distinguished Building Award – Certificate of Merit, 2006
•City of  Chicago Commission on Landmarks -Preservation Excellence Award 2005

Burj Dubai is the centerpiece of the Gulf regions most prestigious urban development, entitled Downtown Dubai which features over 30,000 homes, including villas, luxury residential suits and serviced apartments; nine hotels such as Burj Dubai Lake Hotel & Serviced Apartments; the world's largest mall. Burj Dubai is the tallest man-made structure in world. It is designed by Adrian Smithdrian Smith who works with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) which also designed Sears Tower in Chicago and World Trade Center in New York City. Burj Dubai is constructed by Samsung Engineering & Construction which also built the Petronas Twin Towers and the Taipei in a joint venture with Besix from Belgium and Arabtec from UAE.Turner is the Project Manager on the main construction contract. The interior is decorated by Giorgio Armani.The  total project cost is  $8.1 billion.

                                          
The  current height of the building is 818 m. It is scheduled to be completed in the end of 2009. It will set out new standards of living in today's world. The building sits on a concrete and steel podium with 192 piles descending to a depth of more than 50 meters. The exterior cladding with 2200 panels is of reflective glazing with aluminum and textured stainless steel spandrel panels to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures. At peak cooling times it will require 10,000 tons of cooling per hour. Tower’s water system will supply an average of about 946,000lt of water per day. Electricity demand is estimated to be around 36MVA.It also encloses a condensate collection system which will provide about 15 million gallons of supplemental water per year. Elevators have 66 double deck cabs with a capacity of 21 persons, moving at the speed of 18m/s (40mph), making it the worlds fastest. It will be the first mega high rise in which certain elevators will be programmed to permit controlled evacuation for certain fire or security events. A total of 45,000 cubic meters of concrete are used in the foundations with a weight in excess of 110,000 tons. When completed, Burj Dubai's construction will have used 330,000 m³ of concrete and 39,000 tons of steel rebar, and construction will have taken 22 million man-hours. The consistency of the concrete used in the project is essential. It was difficult to create a concrete that could withstand both the thousands of tonnes bearing down on it and Persian Gulf temperatures that can reach 50 °C (122 °F). To overcome this problem, ice is added to the mixture and it is poured at night when it is cooler and the humidity is higher to avoid any cracks. They also possess a façade maintenance system.

The gigantic Burj Dubai will offer exclusive corporate offices, residential apartments, four lavish swimming pools, one cigar club, one observation deck, lounge, gym, library and several other amenities such as restaurants to enhance its aura. An Armani Hotel, the first of its kind, will occupy the first 37 floors. The next 68 floors will house 700 apartments. Offices occupy the rest of the tower, about 57 floors. Lobby and observation deck is housed in123rd and 124th floor.  The top of the building will contain a public observation deck and a private club above that.

Dubai will host the world’s first rotating skyscraper, designed by Italian’s Architect David Fisher, set to complete by 2010. It will rise 1380 feet into the air with 80 floors. The rotating floors will be made of prefabricated units that spin around a concrete core. By prefabricating the rotating units at least 10 per cent of normal construction costs will be saved.
 
Plans require the buildings to be self-powered by horizontal wind turbines that spin between each floor to generate electricity. Solar power will be provided by photovoltaic cells on the roof of each rotating floor, 15 per cent of which will be exposed to sunlight at any one time. Each turbine has the peak ability to produce around 0.2 megawatt hours of electricity. Given Dubai has an average of 4000 hours of wind annually, with an average wind speed of 16 km/h, the turbines are estimated to produce around 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. Four of the 48 turbines in the building will be enough to power the entire tower, leaving the other 44 to provide surplus energy back into Dubai's power grid.

Most of the floors will be controlled from the architect's laptop, so that they are synchronised to make undulating architectural forms. Each Floor will be a single apartment. Owners who buy an entire floor will be able to use voice activation controls to command it to rotate at will, so that they can change the shape according to the will. The spinning will not cause inhabitants permanent motion sickness because it will move very slowly. There will be office space, parking area and luxury hotels.

It is the first skyscraper, being created by the architect David Fisher. The second dynamic skyscraper will stand in Moscow, completion scheduled for 2010 followed by third in New York. The Moscow tower will have 70 floors and be 1,310 feet tall.

It has a unique construction process. Parts of Dubai’s skyscraper are being made in factories in Italy to then be shipped to Dubai. Most skyscrapers are built from the ground up, floor by floor but the spinning tower will be built in parallel stages. If one team of workers is developing the core, the other team will be busy  prefabricating each floor in segments. The advantages of this method are that it consumes lesser time, fewer workers need to be on site at a time in difficult and dangerous conditions and  each modular apartment can be easily customized.

It has an Associates restaurant with 300 seats and 40 seat private client dining room called the Client Advocate restaurant, 27 conference rooms and many video conference rooms. Next to this building stands another master piece of Norman Foster, 30 St. Mary Axe. Lloyd’s used to occupy the site of The Willis Building. During construction 77.6% of material from the demolition of the Lloyds building was recycled and crushed for use in the foundations. A fringe of shops, cafés and bars at its base together with linear seating and landscaping, combine to enhance the public realm.

Awards:

Best New Building in the City by Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects

Best New Skyscrapers of the year 2007 

                                                                             Ice Fall

A system in the roof preserves the rain water which is stored in a tank and used to water the plants in the building. This preserved water is also used for a three-storey water feature named "Icefall" built with thousands of glass panels and courses through the grand atrium inside the entrance which serves an environmental function by serving to humidify and chill the atrium lobby as necessary. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Interior walls are kept to a minimum in order to maximize penetration of natural light throughout the building. The glass that surrounds the exterior of building is a solar control glass. Special sensors are present in the rooms which switch off the lights and computers in the rooms whenever they are vacant. The building is naturally ventilated for up to three quarters of the year. Furniture used in the offices is formaldehyde free. Overall, the building has been designed to use 26% less energy than the minimum requirements for the NewYork city.

Awards:
• Emporis Skyscraper Award, 2006

• Runner-up for the Royal Institute of British Architects' Lubetkin Prize, 2007.

• British Construction Industry Award, 2007

• International Highrise Award, 2008

The John Hancock Tower (Hancock Place)  is located at 200 Clarendon St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. It was designed in the 1970s by architects I.M. Pei and Henry N Cobb. The tower is positioned right next to the Copley Square, a museum of great architecture that includes H. H. Richardson's famous Trinity Church . It is composed of 60 storeys and is parallelogram in shape. It is sheathed with reflective, blue coloured glass around 10,344 in number and is 241m in height. It was completed in 1976. Minimalism was the design principle behind the tower. Adjacent to the modern John Hancock Tower is the Old John Hancock Tower built in 1947.

The John Hancock Tower is composed of 1.6 million s/f offices (3 floors @ 47,000 s/f, 51 floors @ 30,200 s/f). It has a parking area for 1850 cars. Cafeteria can accommodate 1000 people at a time. Lounge has an area of 36000s/f and observation gallery on 60th floor is 29000s/f in area. It also has lobby and banking facilities. The area of tower is 2000, 000s/f.

The building experienced some engineering flaws. Most dangerous flaw was the falling off of entire 4'x11', 500 lb window panes from the building. The problem was due to large pressure differentials between the inside and outside air created by vortices shed off the sharp corners of the building on windy days.The glass panes were later replaced by a different heat-treated variety. During windy days the building's upper-floor occupants suffered from motion sickness. To stabilize the movement, a device called a tuned mass damper costing $3 million was installed on the 58th floor.Tuned mass damper includes two 300-ton weights.Each weight is a steel box filled with lead and rests on a steel plate which is covered with lubricant to allow free motion of the weight.  Weight is attached to the steel frame of the building by means of springs and shock absorbers. After September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks the observation deck was closed. Hancock Place was acquired by Broadway Partners in 2006 for $1.3 billion .As Broadway Partners were unable to pay the loan ,Hancock Place was sold on 31st March2009 for $660.6 million at a foreclosure auction in New York City by a partnership between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile CapitalPartners.

Awards:
•American Institute of Architects: National Honor Award, 1977
•Boston Society of Architects: Harleston Parker Medal, 1983
•It was added to the prestigious AIA 150 - America's Favorite Architecture list.

Via Moscow News, some images via SkyscraperCity (copyrights to Foster + Partners).

Sources: Archdaily.com, Arcspace.com

Source: Inhabitat.com, AIA, Worldarchitecturenews.com

Do you know the greatest architectural structures built so far of the past 1000 year? Most of you would answer it as seven wonder of the world and some other would say the 20th century skyscrapers but most of the greatest architectures were some obscure homes and temples. This article will take you a tour on the forgotten popular buildings.

St. Denis Church

St. Denis Church, Havertown, Pennsylvania is one among the forgotten architectural master piece. This church was built between 1137 and 1144 during which the builders began to practice a lace like structure in the buildings. This was one of the first large buildings to use this new vertical style, which is now known as Gothic. This building was commissioned by Abbot Suger of this church. Later many churches constructed were following this style.

Chartres Cathedral

The Chartres cathedral in France is actually the reconstruction of the original Romanesque Chartres Cathedral which was destroyed by fire. This one was constructed during 1205 to 1260 had followed the new Gothic style. The piers of the cathedral are curved and each of them was connected with an arch to a wall and extends to the ground or some other nearby piers. This cathedral is about 427 feet long and 112 feet high making it as biggest cathedral during its times.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, Beijing, China one of the biggest place around the world was originally a imperial home of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties who lived during 1368- 1911. The total area of this building is more than 720,000 square meters. This building is now preserved by the Chinese as Museum with more than million rare and valuable objects. The Forbidden City is also called as the Purple Forbidden City or Gugong Museum in Chinese.

The Louvre

The Louvre built during late 12th century by Philip II, this building is one of world’s well known masterpieces till date. During French revolution this was declared as museum. It was initially a fortress for the Louvre Palace. This museum consists of more than 35,000 rare objects which belong to 6th century B.C to the late 19th century.
In 1989 a Glass Pyramid was constructed at the entrance of the museum which was designed by Sino-American Architect – I.M Pei. This Pyramid construction went into several controversial during 1980’s and even the Dan Brown’s Best seller “The Da Vinci Code” has speculated some stories.



Palladio's Basilica, Italy

Once a town hall of Vicenza, the Basilica was reconstructed in to Gothic during 15th century by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and hence named after him as Basilica Palladiana. The building’s construction began in 1549 and was completed in 1617 after the architect’s death. The architect has carefully designed to transform and cover the old Gothic façade building with marble columns and porticos. Palladio spent his entire life in this project but it was completed only 30 years after his death.
Centuries later, the rows of open arches on Palladio's Basilica inspired what came to be known as the Palladian window.



Taj Mahal, India

One of the world wonder, The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz. It is believed that Taj Mahal was designed by the architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori, an Indian architect of Persian desecent Persian. The whole building is built with white marble. Taj Mahal located in Agra, India it attracts visitors from all over the world.



Monticello, Virginia, USA

Monticello designed by Thomas Jefferson is a home in Virginia. Jefferson put his imagination and skills to combine the European traditional Palladio style with the American domesticity. His actual plan was to make out a house that resembles Palladio’s Villa Rotunda. The Monticello has long horizontal wings, underground service rooms. In 1800 Jefferson added the dome to create a spectacular space and he called it “The Sky Room”.



The Eiffel Tower, Paris

Named after its designer, engineer and architect Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is a man made masterpiece. It was built in 1889 to mark the memory of French revolution’s 100th anniversary. This tower was built fully with metal which was new trend that revolutionized the industries during late 1800. The Eiffel tower is the tallest building in Paris and it restrained “The Tallest building in the world” for nearly 40 years. This tower structure is open to the wind and allows the visitors to look over through the all part of the tower.



The Wainwright Building, St. Louis, Missouri

Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler redefined American architecture with the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri. Their design emphsized the underlying structure. Except for the large, deep windows, the first two stories are unornamented. Uninterrupted piers extend through the next seven stories. Intertwined ornaments and small round windows form the upper story. "Form follows function," Sullivan told the world.


Photos Copyright © Mary Ann Sullivan

Great Buildings of the 20th Century

It is the fact that the 20th century building served as a benchmark to the architectural industry. During the twentieth century, exciting new innovations in the world of architecture brought soaring skyscrapers and fresh new approaches to home design. So it is important to appreciate the 20th century buildings here as top pick for the last 1000 years.

Source:About.com

Apart from its identity as one of the older art colleges, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) has always been known for its eclectic mix of buildings within its campus. The newest to join this mix is the new Gateway building - honoured by the American Institute ofArchitects (AIA Maryland) on Sept 9 with an Honour Award for Excellence in Design. The Gateway is a mixed-use residential building that opened in August 2008 at the MICA campus. It has been designed by Baltimore-based international architectural firm RTKL.

The drum-shaped residential wing consists of 63 apartments for students, each with ample living space, a kitchenette and bathrooms. A highly sophisticated façade comprises multi-colored and multi-purposed glasses. The interior landscape courtyard houses a lobby/gallery, theatre, career centre, café, student residence and artist studios. This wing includes single, two or three-bedroom apartments. Single-bedroom apartments have amenities such as custom-designed furnitures and homosote pinup walls along the perimeter to maximize the flooding of natural daylight.

All that glitters may not be gold, but all that is made of glass definitely glitters and can earn itself a Gold. The very best example of this seemingly unique phenomenon is 545 Madison Avenue in New York City.

Traditionally, the word ‘house’ referred merely to a structure meant to provide shelter. The focus of construction was solely on basic comfort and protection. Today, while these continue to be hygiene factors, a good residential building is expected to have some aesthetic value as well. Home owners want a dwelling whose appearance catches the eye. The use of glass in construction is sure to enhance the look of a building, and it is no wonder that Urban Glass House in NY, United States, has exploited this very property to achieve its stunning appearance.

Urban Glass House at 330, Spring Street in SoHo is a good-looking, mid-rise, residential condominium building, designed and named by the famous architect Philip Johnson (who died at the age of 98 in 2005) and his architectural partner Alan Ritchie. This was the last project worked on by Johnson, and arguably his most successful. A 12-storey glass house with 39 apartments and a penthouse unit, Urban Glass House was developed by Glass House Development LLC, a partnership of Abram Shnay, Charles Blaichman and Scott Sabbagh.   

The highlight of this condominium is its glass-walled exterior. With a high fenestration factor, the large square windows of the structure have five panes each, including zero-sightline, operable casements. Spandrel panels and columns cover the building’s concrete structure. The façade of this 12-storey glass box is decorated by setbacks providing private terraces for select apartments. This cubical building totally contains five small setback cutouts - on the 4^th, 9^th, 10^th and 12^th floors.

The penthouse unit has a 12-foot-high ceiling with a double-sided fireplace, while other apartments have 9-foot-9-inch-high ceilings. Palettes of black, gray, silver and matte and reflective surfaces are used for the interiors. Kitchens are equipped with stainless steel appliances and featured cabinets that have black linoleum doors and drawers along with stainless steel side panels and countertops. The lobby and elevators have also made liberal use of stainless steel.

Floor plans are designed to maximize space, heighten vistas and to enjoy spaciousness. White oak floors are laid out in a chevron pattern and large expanses of glass are used throughout the building.

High ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, glass showers and double sinks are some of the building’s special amenities. Each penthouse is a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom wonder with a total of 4,266 sq ft of interior space, 1,579 sq ft of exterior space, and a 12-foot . The single bedroom apartments on the third floor have 35’8” X 18’5” of living space. These dwelling units cost anything between $1,650,000 and $3,200,000.

Urban Glass House is a truly “dazzling” example of modern architecture that makes ample use of glass to achieve the perfect balance of functionality and aesthetics.  

That all architectural structures are covered by solid opaque walls on all four sides to maintain privacy and security is a given. So, a home with walls of glass that offer a clear view of the inside is bound to create more than just a ripple, and 128 Werner Sobek does just that. This rather novel concept in residential architecture seems to have broken through all conventions and set a new - if not higher - standard in innovative construction.

R128 Werner Sobek is four-storey house, floating high on a hill overlooking the city of Stuttgart, Germany. Inside this curious creation, there are no doors, switches, interior walls or partitions and no closed rooms. But what takes the cake is that the home generates its own energy. The construction material used to create R128 is one hundred percent eco-friendly and recyclable.

R128 has a most attractive glass façade and is devoid of a basement. High quality triple-glazed glass with inert gas filling is in use. The use of a modular design, complete with glass panels and steel frames ensured easy assembly and disassembly of the construction. The insulated glass panels prevent overheating of the interior during summer and loss of energy and warmth during winter. The supporting steel frame comprises of 10 tons of steel.

The ceiling of the Werner Sobek glass house consists of prefabricated panels overlaid by plastic. Beneath the unscrewed floor, aluminium ceiling panels are affixed by clip connections. Lighting, heating and cooling systems are fitted into that layer and this acts as an acoustic absorber pattern.  

Sensor controlled doors have been installed on the upper and lower levels of the house. All appliances and environmental systems are also controlled by motion sensors and voice commands. The front door has a voice recognition feature which allows it to open automatically on a voice command. Water faucets in the bathrooms are regulated by sensors. Windows are controlled by touch screen technology.

Every floor has two folding windows each, which allow natural daylight and fresh air to enter the house. During summer, cool water running through the floor elements removes excess heat from the entire house with the help of a heat exchanger. Thus surplus energy is stored for use in winter. This ensures minimal energy consumption. 48 solar powered modules with a total capacity of 6.2 KW are installed on the rooftop, which are responsible for supplying all the power required by the pump system.

This green show-house is expected to go a long way in promoting energy-efficient architecture.
 

The latest addition to the green building brigade is the Hong Kong Science Park that has achieved aesthetic and functional brilliance by implementing attractive as well as energy-efficient façade glazing in the architecture of all buildings in the park.   

Top Features

A double-glazing curtain wall system with special glass combined with sunshades has been used in all buildings in Phase-1. Doing this has reduced the Overall Thermal Transfer Value (OTTV) to a mere 20 watts per sq. meter. The glass chosen has low thermal conductivity and high solar reflection (greater than 50 percent) together with high light transmission (of over 70 percent).

The façades are covered in a combination of aluminum panels, double glazed window units and integrated photovoltaic panels. Dark blue solar glass that harnesses solar energy and generate electricity makes up part of the façade. This solar glass is laced with Building Integrated Photo Voltaic (BIPV) cells that can be integrated seamlessly into an architectural structure.

A second façade is added in front of the curtain wall on the west-facing side. The cavity between the two façades has an upward passage for air, which carries away absorbed solar heat. It also soundproofs the interiors, so as to cut off the noise emanating from the Tolo Highway.

The roof panels consist of two layers, again to provide insulation from solar heat. Metallic roofing sheets covered with PV panels dot the roof.

In this way, the double-glazed curtain wall system and sun shading devices together with the metal roof provide thermal protection as well as acoustic forces.

Low-e coated windows permit natural light to come in whilst cutting off infrared radiation. Low-e coating has also been used in combination with a reflective coating to reduce transmission of visible light even further.  
 

The new office building of Dresdner Solarwatt AG surprises with a special inner façade.
With the new office building of Solarwatt AG Dresden has yet another architectural highlight: three apparently “floating” meeting rooms in plasterboard lightweight construction had to be integrated into the inner façade of the atrium in such a way that they are seen as suspended bodies from inside as well as from outside.

They are a regular source of astonishment for customers and visitors. The projections which have a large oval form and are finished in a radiant dark yellow can be seen at the Solarwatt location on Maria-Reich-Strasse, where solar modules have been developed and produced for more than 16 years.

On the ground floor of the building, two of the cells stand at an angle to each other and are used as meeting rooms. On the first floor, the third element accommodates the production management in an open-plan office. The overall structure resembles an "egg" from inside the building.
 

Source: saint gobain glass india

NanaWall Systems, the industry leader in opening glass walls, announces its newest product for architects and builders: NanaWall® SL70 with Triple Glazing, providing exceptional thermal performance for the harshest weather conditions. The NanaWall triple glazed SL70 system provides flexible solutions to architectural openings from three to thirty six feet wide using one to twelve panels.

In the image, you get a view of the Glacier Garden Restaurant Glass Pavillion featuring NanaWall System SL70 with Thermal Glazing.

The SL70 system was chosen for the glass pavilion at the Bavarian Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn, a ski resort in the Alps over 8,000 feet above sea level. The pavilion includes forty six panels of the SL70 including three folding glass door systems of six panels each, and seven folding glass window units with four panels each.

The architect chose the SL70 System because it met the client’s challenging specifications and testing requirements to provide: comfort despite temperature variations from -40° F (-40° C) to 60° F (+15° C), large opening walls that can withstand wind speeds of up to 125 miles per hour with the associated pressure and suction.

The NanaWall SL70 with Triple Glazing system has an NFRC certified U-value of .30 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of .24. It meets Energy Star requirements for all areas of the US and areas A and B of Canada. It also provides high weather resistance and structural performance. For inswing and outswing models with a raised sill, independent testing indicates that there was no water leakage at 12 psf or 68 miles per hour. The NanaWall SL70 with Triple Glazing is available in more than 200 finishes as a floor-mounted system with more than 50 stacking configurations.

Source: Archithings.com

Visual Acoustics is a documentary that celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman,
the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every major modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Frank Gehry.

Visual Acoustics explores the monumental career of the late architectural photographer, Julius Shulman, who passed away on July 15th, 2009. Populating his photos with human models and striking landscapes, Shulman combined the organic with the synthetic, melding nature with revolutionary urban design. The resulting images helped shape the careers of some of the greatest architects of the 20th Century.

Taking aesthetic cues from Shulman’s own sensual and nuanced photography, the film’s narrative (by Dustin Hoffman) is built from a blend of Shulman’s own images and in-depth interviews with architect Frank Gehry, designer Tom Ford, artist Ed Ruscha, actress Kelly Lynch, writer Mitch Glazer, publisher Benedikt Taschen, Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti and a host of others. By offering unprecedented and exclusive access to his amazing photographic archive and day-to-day life, Shulman's dedicated involvement in the filming process was an incalculable benefit to the film.

Still active until his death at 98 years-old, Shulman took photography assignments and lecture invitations from around the world. While at home, holding court in his 1949 Raphael Soriano-designed home and studio, Shulman and his incomparable archive continued to bring to life a Los Angeles style that he helped to create; a style that has influenced the designers of today’s sleek global aesthetic.

In addition to remaining a respected and insightful voice within the architecture community, Shulman continued to be an outspoken and extremely vocal advocate of imbuing the urban 21st century with a sense of humanity and a balance with the natural world.

Release: 2009
Running Time: 84 minutes
Directed by Eric Bricker

Official Website: www.juliusshulmanfilm.com

Burj Khalifa nee Dubai has been bestowed the title of the tallest skyscraper in the world on 4th January 2010 amongst a blaze of fireworks. After being called “Burj Dubai” while under construction, this half-mile-high tower got rechristened as “Burj Khalifa”.

Burj now stands out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle.

Renamed In Honour

The unexpected announcement of renaming this tapering metal-and-glass spire as Burj Khalifa was to honor the Abu Dhabi leader who is also president of the UAE. He rescued Dubai from last year’s financial crisis, during which Dubai collapsed by nearly half - the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst. Riding to the rescue was Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, which pumped tens of billions of dollars into Dubai last year as it struggled to pay enormous debts.

Highlights

This opening ceremony revealed the height of the skyscraper as 2,717 feet (828 meters) from the desert. But the number of floors in this building is still a well-guarded secret. Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, initially said it had "more than 200" stories, but he later backtracked to more than 165 inhabitable floors, given its tapered top. Promotional materials sent before the tower's opening claimed it had 160 stories.

The Burj is the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city.

The $1.5 billion "vertical city" consists of luxury apartments and offices and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani also plans to have the world's highest mosque (158th floor) and swimming pool (76th floor). An observation deck on the 124th floor opens to the public Tuesday, with adult tickets starting at 100 Dirham, or just over $27 apiece.

Safety Measures

The groundbreaking tower was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record in engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including the Willis Tower.

Developers say they are confident about the safety of the tower, which is nearly twice the height of New York's Empire State Building.

Greg Sang, Emaar's director of projects, said the Burj Khalifa has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30-storey intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. Its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers. A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center.

At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, although they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.

 

Abu Dhabi will be home to one of the world's great buildings - Capital Gate, an iconic and avant-garde building that blends the beauty of the wave with the power of technical advancement.

Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) has revealed that glazing work on the iconic Capital Gate Tower, currently under construction next to Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, is almost complete. This “Capital Gate” has been designed by the New York firm RMJM architects.

Capital Gate forms the focal point of Capital Centre, the business and residential micro city being developed by ADNEC around the thriving Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. When fully complete, Capital Gate will feature the 5-star hotel - 'Hyatt at Capital Centre' besides playing host to some of the most exclusive office space in the UAE capital. The Capital Gate is a 160m-tall leaning tower in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The architecture of the Capital Gate tower is dotted with monster glass panels. Monster glass panels for Abu Dhabi’s 'leaning tower' development have arrived on what the project team claims is the world’s biggest flat bed truck. The panels are for the Capital Gate building, which architect RMJM recently submitted for the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘world’s most inclined building’. It has a tilt of 18 degrees – over four times more than the Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa.

More than 12,500 individually shaped glass panels have been installed on Capital Gate's façade in a complex engineering feat which has taken ADNEC and its construction partners ten months to complete. In an intricate operation, 728custom-made glass panels have been used. Each pane of glass had to be a slightly different shape and fitted at a different angle due to the building's unique lean and its curved profile. The first two glazing panels are weighing approximately 5 tonnes each.

The tower's unique shape and character made the installation of the glazing particularly challenging for our engineers. It is a compliment to all involved that the installation took place during ADNEC's busiest year ever for exhibitions and events; yet, there was no disruption to the visitors or exhibitors.

The glass panes on Capital Gate make up more than 700 larger glass "diamonds," and were manufactured in the United Sates with the steel frames holding the glass precision-cut in Austria before being shipped to the UAE. ADNEC stored the glass panels away from the construction site and delivered them as needed, on enormous flatbed trucks. Once they reached the Capital Gate construction site they were meticulously placed into the correct position by on-site engineers.

The RMJM project team is using the glass to create a new kind of glazing system called ‘Cardinal C240’, which is anti-glare but also highly transparency. The glass used is a highly energy-efficient and low 'e' category glass. This glass has two silver coatings which minimise glare and maximise light transmission. The double glazed façade will allow natural daylight into the building while boosting energy efficiency and shielding users from harmful glare.

The use of this advanced variety of glass is a 'first' for the UAE. The 'pressure-plate' system that has been developed for the steel frame which holds each pane in place guarantees the water tightness of the façade and allows thinner panes of glass to be used, thereby reducing the weight of the glazing system.

The lean and curve of the building added considerable complexity to the glazing process. A few glass panes have deliberately been left out to ensure that adequate ventilation exists prior to the installation of the air conditioning.

Due to its unique shape, Capital Gate is being constructed on top of a concrete raft with a dense mesh of reinforced steel. The steel Diagrid sits above an extensive distribution of 490 piles that have been drilled 30m underground to accommodate the gravitational and wind loads. The angles and dimensions of the building facade have been meticulously designed to ensure that each individually shaped panel accurately defines the shape of this magnificent structure.

The consultant in charge of the green ratings for the new Assembly complex will request the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to expedite the process of review of the green aspects of the project.

This would make way for speedy completion of the green rating process and announce the LEED certification during the inauguration of the Assembly building on March 13. “If the IGBC accepts the request to expedite the rating process, it will be definitely possible to announce the rating on March 13,” said Deepa Sathiaram of En3 Sustainability Solutions, the green consultant of the project. “A few specifications to be used for construction of the green building have to be documented. It will be completed shortly,” she added. A few interior materials for the building are still in the process of procurement, she said.

The building is likely to be the largest governmental green building in India. Special glazing work on the Assembly building is part of the green measures. It has been registered for rating under the category of ‘LEED India for New Construction,’ which is a green building rating system that helps to guide and design high-performance commercial buildings which include offices, retail and service establishments, institutional buildings and buildings of four or more habitable stories.

Software simulations are being prepared for energy and lighting calculation and analysis, she said. Calculations pertaining to water consumption in the building, test reports and data sheets for materials used in the green building and drawings for site related items will be readied shortly, said Ms. Sathiaram. After a formal audit of the building by IGBC the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification would be awarded.

SOURCE : THEHINDU

In the first of its series of interviews with prominent personalities in the field of Architecture and Interior Design, Glazette brings to you - Architect K P Nagaraj at Bengaluru - upclose and personal.

Ar. Nagaraj shares his experiences right from when he passed out of the Goa College of Architecture, and then made Bangalore his home. He is instrumental in the architecture and planning of the Infosys Campus. In this interview, he shares provides insights on Glass in Architecture, green buildings and the increasing trends in sustainable designs.

Watch this clipping, and share your thoughts with us.

Dinesh Kabra presented to us this Residential Bungalow as a part of the Design Showcase 2010 that made it to the final lists because of its finest aesthetic sense and architectural splendour.

This traditional joint-family home is a sprawling 7200 sq.ft spacious and clean-lined home that reflects the true persona of the family. The design blends contemporary style with tradition. With seven bedrooms, multiple living areas, parking space for 5 cars, servant accommodation, and plenty of green spaces, the clients specifications were quite demanding, but the end result was a home of the hearts.

Click here to View the Designs.

Click here to view other Finalists and their works.

The Council of Architecture (COA) has been constituted by the Government of India under the provisions of the Architects Act, 1972, enacted by the Parliament of India, which came into force on 1st September, 1972. The Act provides for registration of architects, standards of education, recognized qualifications and standards of practice to be complied with by practicing architects.

Council of Architecture is a body corporate, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of movable and immovable property, and to contract, and may by that name, use or be used.

The Council of Architecture is entrusted with the responsibility to regulate the education and practice of the profession throughout India, besides maintaining the register of architects. For this purpose, the Government of India has framed rules, and the Council itself has framed Regulations as provided for in the Architects Act, with the approval of Government of India.

The COA oversees the maintenance of the standards by way of conducting inspections through Committees of Experts. The COA is required to keep the Central Government informed of the standards being maintained by the institutions and is empowered to make recommendations to the Government of India with regard to recognition and de-recognition of a qualification.

The Head Office of the Council of Architecture is in Delhi at the Indian Habitat Centre. There are 135 institutions which impart architecture education in India for recognized qualifications. The standards of education being imparted in these institutions (constituent colleges/departments of universities, deemed universities, affiliated colleges/schools, IITs, NITs and autonomous institutions) is governed by Council of Architecture (Minimum Standards of Architectural Education) Regulations, 1983, which set forth the requirement of eligibility for admission, course duration, standards of staff & accommodation, course content, examination etc.