Glazing for a new French-owned department store in Berlin, Germany, has been provided by laminated, tempered, curved glass makers, Sunglass of Italy.
The exterior of the Galeries Lafayette store is …
Glazing for a new French-owned department store in Berlin, Germany, has been provided by laminated, tempered, curved glass makers, Sunglass of Italy. The exterior of the Galeries Lafayette store is a composition of flat and curved (cylindrical and conical) 12-mm tempered glass modules of an average size of 1,600 x 2,650 mm. Screen-printing was used for the “V” shapes alternated with clear glass sections which decorate the entire height of the main facade. The large upright and upturned internal cones are in curved laminated glass with reflective concave surfaces (antelio silver). The main upright cone is over 30 metres in height and each upturned cone has a shaped glass tip. According to Sunglass, pre-production preparation, including the presentation of prototypes, tooling, physical-mechanical testing and quality definition (the maximum tolerance achieved was 2 mm), took three months, while production itself lasted 7 months. Project details Glass pieces supplied: 7,000 Total area of glass supplied: 12,000 sq. m. Glass sizes: 320 Differing curvatures: 100 Screenprint compositions: 250 The Italian company says it is also involved in other projects worldwide, including: – Maison du Japon, Paris, France (Architect: Armstrong); – Great Bridgewater, Manchester, UK; – Banca Popolare di Lodi, Italy (Architect: Renzo Piano); – Ying Fang Building, Shanghai, China; – Espace Porte D“Anfa, Casablanca, Morocco (the first project in Morocco using curved glass). Sunglass will be present at Glastec “96 with a stand designed by French architect Claude Vasconi, and with sculptures by glass artist Santarossa, built by Sunglass, also on display.