Project Hunt86 Glass Bulletin | January - March, 2020
Vitro Architectural Glass• 2181 Fremont Tower, with Vitro Glass,named San Francisco’s top building ofdecadeSan Francisco Chronicle Calls Engineering Marvel ‘The People’s Choice’181 Fremont, a 57-story office and condominium tower sheathed in Solarban® 70 glass byVitro Architectural Glass, was named San Francisco’s top building of the decade by the SanFrancisco Chronicle.Calling it “the people’s choice,”John King, the newspaper’surban design critic, said thebuilding’s signature sawtooth façade“hints at the old-school swagger thatmade skyscrapers fun in the firstplace”.While King praised the building’sengaging appearance—Manus HellerArchitects created the sawtoothpattern to serve a more vital purpose—which was to help make 181 Fremontthe most resilient tall condominiumstructure on the West Coast.Working with Hartung GlassIndustries, Seattle, a member of theVitro Certified Network of glassfabricators, Vitro Glass suppliedmore than 6,000 insulating glassunits (IGUs), including hundreds ofdifferently shaped triangles, gables andother shapes to Benson Industries,the building’s curtainwall designer,engineer and installer.Jeffrey Heymann, vice president ofBenson Industries, said the complexdesign required each IGU to bemodelled in three dimensions so theconnections and milling for each unitcould be studied in-depth. Gettingthe right fit for each angle in thecurtainwall took several months, butthe effort helps ensure the structurewill withstand seismic events up to 8.0magnitude. The design also disruptsairflow, which reduces the impact ofwind forces on the building’s upperfloors.Hartung Glass heat-treated andlaminated 1,500 IGUs, including up to800 in large sizes ranging from 58-by-125 inches to 58-by-144 inches. ChuckMcMullen, senior account managerfor Vitro Glass, said that the largetriangle units were the most difficultto manufacture. “When they wereheat-treated, the sharp edges of thetriangles tended to curl at the points.There were also many different-sizedtriangles, so as the building rose inheight, the panel sizes would change,”’he added.Benson also designed the sealantjoints between the glass andaluminium framing to be a half-inchlarger than usual, which ensuresthat the glass will never touch thecurtainwall framing even at the mostextreme level of seismic racking.As the first building in San Franciscoto achieve LEED®-certification at thePlatinum level, 181 Fremont also is amodel of energy efficiency, due in largepart to the use of Solarban® 70 glass.With visible light transmittance (VLT)of 64% in a standard one-inch IGU,Solarban® 70 glass delivers a solarheat gain coefficient of 0.27, whichmakes it ideal for balancing demandfor both daylighting, views and energyefficiency.About Vitro ArchitecturalGlassVitro Architectural Glass, part ofVitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV:VITROA),the largest company of its kind inthe Americas, manufactures a rangeof industry-leading, energy-efficientproducts such as Solarban®, Sungate®and Starphire Ultra-Clear® glasses atUS plants in Carlisle, Pennsylvania;Fresno, California; Salem, Oregon; andWichita Falls, Texas. The company alsooperates one of the world’s largest glassresearch and development facilities inPittsburgh and four residential glassfabrication plants in Canada.Website: www.vitroglasshub.comGlass Bulletin | January - March, 2020 87