Pilkington Spacia™ has won the 2011 Product of the Year Award in association with BAU 2013. This vacuum glazing system is flexible enough for use in a wide range of building styles and forms.
The winner of the 2011 Product of the Year Award in association with BAU 2013 is Pilkington Spacia™. This vacuum glazing system is a highly intelligent feat of engineering and design, building on many years of intensive research and development by the Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd. (NSG) and University of Sydney to create a product flexible enough for use in a wide range of building styles and forms.
Considered as ‘space-aged technology’ by World Architecture News (WAN) Juror Brendon Moss, Design & Construction Associate at Tishman Speyer, this complex system consists of two sheets of 3mm glass – one of which has a low-E coating – separated by a Micro Spacer Grid of small pillars each measuring 0.5mm in diameter and set 20mm apart. Moss continued on to note that ‘vacuum glazing has been impossible to produce in the past and is a ‘Holy Grail’.
Damian Rogan, Associate at Buro Happold, was equally impressed by Pilkington Spacia™ (Pilkington is now part of the NSG Group) declaring: “It is a great product! It is the big leap forward that we have been waiting some time for in improving thermal forms of windows and in minimum depth. The potential to replace existing sash windows in single glazing with double glazing vacuum glazing with the same thickness is a bonus and will lead to improving performance in existing buildings.”
Also topping the tables was shortlisted entry Kebony, a natural wood product that resists utilizing the toxic chemicals so often found in other timber goods, which was felt to be a cut above by the jury and as such was awarded the title of Highly Commended. Using a patented ‘Kebonization’ method, raw materials cut to the exact dimensions necessary undergo a series of processes that make sustainable wood more durable, harder and dimensionally stable using liquids from bio waste.
This product was also a favourite for Moss, who confessed: “I don’t know if this process is commonly used, but the idea of converting soft wood into a ‘hard wood’ product seems to be a very good advancement. They have worked with internationally respected partners to assure clients. This is a good product – worth considering for future projects.”