Guardian Glass Project: Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden

Butterflies are beautiful and delicate creatures – and very climate sensitive. So when planners were designing the Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden in Konya, Turkey, they recognised it was vital to secure the best, most reliable means of maintaining stable heat and humidity in the museum. 

The museum, which opened in July 2015, features Europe's biggest butterfly flight zone of 1,600 square meters. Some 6,000 butterflies of 15 species and 20,000 tropical plants of 98 species live in the museum.

Ensuring a constant tropical climate of 26 °C and 80% humidity inside the glass-covered building was a particular challenge in Konya, which has a continental climate with large temperature swings between the winter and summer months. The construction area covered 380,000 square meters. 

They selected Guardian SunGuard® SNX 60/28, which lets 60% of sunlight in but keeps out 72% of the sun’s heat – allowing the temperature inside the building to be precisely regulated.

COUNTRY: Turkey

CITY: Konya

ARCHITECT: Arup

GLASS PROCESSOR: Çıraylar Glass

CLADDER: Kocamanlar Alüminyum A.Ş.

PRODUCT

• SunGuard® SNX 60/28