Excellent glass roof systems

Bold constructions, challenging shapes

Architects like to step off the beaten path, with innovative and bold designs that push the boundaries in terms of functionality, technology and aesthetics. For example, with daring building concepts and challenging forms, which are implemented from the building plan to the facades and the glass roof. Kingspan Light + Air goes along with this with an extensive range of customized glass roof systems that excel in scalability, aesthetic flexibility and insulation value.

“Whereas many companies choose to offer glass roof systems within a certain size system, our hands actually start itching when an architect comes up with something unique and challenging,” begins Teun van Dooren, Product Developer at Kingspan Light + Air. “With our own R&D department, our own structural engineers and our own production facilities, we have all the knowledge and technical expertise to realize high-profile designs. The possibilities in terms of shape and size are almost endless. The basis is our aluminum rod systems, but we also design and supply wooden or steel substructures. In addition, we offer a wide variety of glass options, including possible screen printing or BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaic) panels, for which we have samples produced to test the desired look with the architect. In the design phase, we can already provide 3D models to visualize design ideas at the system level. We can also provide parametric thinking and co-design.”

Early involvement

“We are very happy to sit down with the architect and contractor at an early stage to help think about the possible solutions based on the chosen interplay of lines, the dimensional system and associated project requirements,” Van Dooren emphasizes. “Here, architecture, functional feasibility and technical feasibility are carefully matched with feasibility and (structural) safety. Are the chosen glass sizes feasible? And is the design structurally strong enough? Are the desired heat loss values (U-values), light penetration (LTA) and sun penetration (ZTA) correct?”

Solutions for every project

“In our advice, we look not only at our existing (basic) systems, but also at possible additions,” he says. “If necessary, we even develop completely new systems. A good example is the huge glass dome over the atrium of renovation project EDGE Amsterdam-West, which transformed an unused courtyard garden into a light-filled green meeting place with sufficient daylight for the offices around it. The glass dome has been given a height of 12 meters, a span of about 76 meters and counts no less than 728 panes of 3.5 by 2.8 meters, weighing 350 kg each. For this project, we developed a new profile to accommodate tolerances in all directions. A solution that was subsequently also used in the enormous wooden railroad canopy at Ede-Wageningen Station, where 249 triangular roof lights provide unique daylighting.”

For the new translucent domes and skylight at the Leiden University Library, Kingspan Light + Air took just the opposite approach. “To keep the project affordable, here we actually looked at how we could solve the impressive design within our existing systems,” said Van Dooren. “Both domes of about 18 meters in diameter were inspired by the greenhouses of the nearby Hortus Botanicus and had polycarbonate fillings, which we replaced in the new situation with single curved and hot bent glass. Here the flexibility of our systems comes out very nicely. Indeed, we can make any corner connection and have even developed twisted rods for this purpose.” 

In addition to hot bent glass, architects can also turn to Kingspan Light + Air for custom glass roof systems with cold bent glass. Nice references for this are, for example, the metro stations Noord and Noorderpark in Amsterdam. “Moreover, we recently installed cold bent glass on project Zuidasdok in Amsterdam, with dimensions of 6 by 2 meters,” Van Dooren concludes. “Moreover, there are several more high-profile projects in the pipeline.” To be continued, no doubt.