ipasol neutral 73/42

Multifunctional glass structure
At Fusionopolis, the special structure of the glass panes provides sun and heat protection, privacy and mechanical resistance. The towers are relatively close together, so privacy has to be ensured whilst still preserving the scenic view for the inhabitants. The solution: wherever an office section is opposite an apartment, the external wall of the office is set back a bit in the façade, and roof gardens form a visual buffer zone. In these places, the outer pane of the façade glazing is additionally furnished with a sophisticated screen print pattern that tapers off towards the middle of the pane. Thus, an outward view from the inside is still possible, whereas the inward view from outside is restricted.

The outside panes of the 30,000 square metres of the façade that are textured in this way consist of heat-strengthened glass. Thirty-eight percent of the glass surface is printed – in combination with the special ipasol solar control coating, this results in a solar factor of only 18 percent as de-termined by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Freiburg). The pane on the inside of the whole structure consists of laminated safety glazing.

A further 9,000 square metres of the heat-strengthened glass with screen printing have a backing of white sheet metal for visual reasons, or serve as a parapet in some exterior areas. In the apartments, an ipasol glass type with a higher light transmittance is used in some positions (ipasol neutral 73/42), which has been applied to a glass substrate with a grey hue for rea-sons of appearance. This combination livens up the largely white façade of the building and restricts the inward view from outside. From the inside, an excellent outward view is neverthe-less ensured. In combination with grey glass (8 mm), the solar factor decreases to 26 percent (according to EN 410). This substantially reduces the costs for air conditioning.

All Pictures: Fusionopolis, Singapore
Architect: Dr. Kisho Kurokawa, Tokyo, Japan