Bendheim’s Channel & Dichroic Architectural Glass Define New CUNY Science Campus

Bendheim’s channel glass and Optichroic® SatinTech™ dichroic architectural glass define the interior and exterior of the 390,000-sq.-ft. science  complex.The advanced structural and decorative qualities of the glass  reflect the innovative, entrepreneurial research to be conducted in the  buildings.

Architects at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC (KPF) selected  Bendheim’s advanced architectural glass to translate the wonder and  innovation of scientific discovery into the buildings’ design. Bendheim Wall Systems’ Lamberts channel glass is a sophisticated alternative to  flat glass, allowing architects to create virtually seamless glass  walls, up to 23’ tall and limitless in length, including corners and  serpentine walls. Bendheim’s dichroic SatinTech glass, characterized  by striking visual qualities, has its origins in NASA’s research into  materials capable of protection against direct sunlight and cosmic  radiation.

Bendheim Wall Systems Channel Glass

“Both the channel glass and the dichroic glass diffuse the natural  light and create a sense of fluidity and ribbon-like continuity that we  used to define the interior public and social spaces as if we carved  away through the buildings... beginning at the entrances and reaching in  a spiraling, upward fashion towards the light of the central vertical  spaces in both buildings,” said Hana Kassem, AIA LEED AP, Director, KPF.

Bendheim Wall Systems provided 17,000 sq. ft. of channel glass for  the curved and straight double-glazed interior walls. The majority of  these glass walls exceed 14’ in height. The walls of both buildings  combine two of Bendheim’s channel glass textures: Solar™ creates veiled  images for a soft sense of privacy, and Clarissimo™ offers a high level  of transparency for vision areas. The City College Center for Discovery  and Innovation displays low-iron channel glass with an ultra-clear,  brilliant quality. The ASRC features the standard Lamberts channel glass  with approximately 60% recycled material, including up to 40%  post-consumer content.

Bendheim Wall Systems Channel Glass and Optichroic® SatinTech™ Architectural Glass

Another 12,000 sq. ft. of channel glass, reaching 10’ to 15’ heights,  accent the facades of the new campus. Double-glazed walls consist of  recycled-content Solar channel glass encapsulating 1.5-inch thick  Okapane insulation to improve the buildings’ thermal performance. The  exterior walls feature a distinctive combination of channel glass and  laminated colored glass insulated units held in Bendheim Wall Systems’  proprietary SF60 frame system. Bendheim is the only glass provider to  offer such an application: creating a seamless appearance and speeding  installation.

Bendheim's Optichroic® SatinTech™ Architectural Glass

“Owing to its integral structural qualities, channel glass offered  the continuity of surface that we were after to create a seamless  wrapping of the interior public spaces, much like a continuous winding  ribbon leading you inside, starting at the base and entry point of the  buildings, up through the connected social spaces lining the central  atrium and culminating at the top floor,” said Kassem. “The diaphanous  visual quality also added to the sense of meandering space we were  seeking.”

At the ASRC building, a striking, wide-open central stairway,  featuring Bendheim’s SatinTech glass guardrail, connects the flowing  floor plan and promotes partnership among laboratories. As the viewer’s  angle to the glass changes, SatinTech shifts its color, creating a  refined iridescent aesthetic. The winding staircase required  high-precision, complex glass fabrication. Bendheim provided ¾-inch  thick, bent, safety, triple-laminated Optichroic® SatinTech™ glass,  custom-curved to hug the contours of the six-level, monumental  staircase.

“Bendheim’s curved dichroic glass was the perfect answer to our  client’s desire for ‘color without color’ as the client requested one of  the buildings, the ASRC, to be more about texture and neutral tones but  not devoid of a sense of wonder that could be associated with  scientific experimentation conducted in the labs,” said Kassem. “The  ephemeral, fleeting color of the guardrail around the central staircase  provided exactly that. The constantly shifting and changing hues point  to the explorations of physics and optics with subtlety.”