Stunning new projects in India use laminated safety glass with Butacite® PVB

"Thanks to curved laminated glass, the retrofit provides the aesthetic result of the original construction - while adding more safety benefits."

A growing range of stunningly beautiful architectural projects in India -- for example an historically-precise renovation of a colonial-era 'crystal palace' greenhouse and a striking, new-age library building firmly rooted in the 21st century -- both incorporate the benefits of laminated safety glass with DuPont™ Butacite®.

Laminator GSC Toughened Glass of Noida, near New Dehli, India supplied the laminated glass for both projects. The architectural/ structural engineering design and construction for the projects was Geodesic Techniques (P) Ltd. of Bangalore.

Colonial hothouse is authentically restored with new safety

The Lalbagh Glass House, located in Bangalore in the state of Karnataka (central India), is one of the city's foremost tourist attractions. The neo-classical Glass House with jewel-like embellishments details on gracefully curved and sloped geometric forms was originally built in 1888 by the English architect John Cameron. The structure is located in the famous Lalbagh or Red Garden of Bangalore, which had been nurtured for several centuries by the Indian royalty as a bio-diversity park. Sadly, the Lalbagh Glass House had fallen into a state of extreme disrepair by 2003, the year the renovation was decided upon.

SJ Singh, managing director of GSC Glass won the bid to supply the glass for the project based on his own detailed knowledge of the history of glass-making in India. Singh told LGN: "Lalbagh was originally built, per British Empire norms, wholly from materials shipped into India from Glasgow in Scotland -- from the steel columns needed for the structural engineering to the glass. The type of glass used was old 'cast plate' (annealed) glass which was not as clear as annealed glass as we know it today, or even fully transparent - in fact it was full of distortion lines due to the old-fashioned casting process. The Glasgow-fabricated glass used in the original was not 'safe' in any sense -- in fact it was frequently falling out of its frame onto the floor of the horticultural gardens. As the glass panes fell out over the years they were replaced by various types of glass -- whatever was available -- so that by 2003 the few frames that still held glass in them were made of a variety of glass and glass-like materials of varying degrees of transparency -- very few of which could be considered 'safe'. We realized immediately that laminated glass incorporating a ceramic frit would both obtain the aesthetic effect nearest to the original Lalbagh and also provide the safest option in terms of overhead glazing for the thousands of visitors that are expected to visit the greenhouse each year. Within the ceramic frit we attempted to incorporate the tone of yellowness and the thin lines that the original 'Glasgow' glass would have had; the frit also tones down the harshness of the sun's glare for visitors inside during the summertime."

"The advantage of this new glass composition is strength, security, safety, long life, easy maintenance and replacement, and a diffused look. The new method of glass fixing was based on butt jointing using a structural silicone sealant as the first waterproofing barrier and a pressure plate system using EPDM, ensuring drainage and sweating, as the second barrier. Lalbagh is illuminated at night, when it glows in a particularly lovely way, just as it must have glowed in the 1890s. We are pleased that by incorporating laminated glass we were able to achieve an aesthetic result as close as possible to the original but with optimal safety." The construction used is 5 mm heat strengthened + 5 mm clear heat strengthened glass for the flat portions. In the curved portions, 5 + 5 clear anneled glass with a 0.76 mm interlayer of Butacite® PVB is used.

An additional advantage of contemporary laminated glass is that it can be obtained in curved radii. The curved sections of Lalbagh were made of steel in the original, but today are made of curved laminated glass, enhancing the stunning effect at night.

More than 3,000 sq m of laminated glass incorporating Butacite® was used in the renovation. Since its official opening in January 2004, Lal Bagh has already become one of Bangalore's premier tourist destinations.

21st-century, geodesic domed library needs laminated safety glass too

GSC is also supplying laminated safety glass with Butacite® PVB interlayer for some of India's most contemporary-style architectural projects.

Geodesic glass domes are becoming popular in India. The use of laminated glass with Butacite® PVB is essential for safety.

Several of these projects take the shape of the geodesic glass domes that are becoming popular from London to Singapore in replacing traditional ‘tower’ or high rise forms for projects from office blocks to cultural centres.

GSC's first project is a library building for the Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology (SSIT) in Tumkar, near Bangalore, and contains more than 90,000 books with provision for periodicals, back issues and newspapers. It was designed by Geodesic Techniques (P) Ltd of Bangalore and completed in January 2004.

Managing Director of Geodesic Techniques, Srindhi Anantharaman, said: "The design offers very high value for optimum investments in several ways. The lighting requirement during daytime is substantially reduced due to the abundant natural light available all around the dome, and also by virtue of the building being an open plan arrangement. Geodesic domes are the most economical structural frames as they are based on the extraordinary strengths of a spherical geometry, combined with the rigidity of triangular structures.

"In this building we have strived to incorporate sound structural engineering principles and innovative architectural engineering concepts, creating a truly modern building."

The dome’s diameter is 31 metres and its height is 23.65 metres. Anantharaman continued: "The crystalline character of the laminated glass dome gives the structure a very unconventional and artistic appeal, totally in contrast to its surroundings and therefore transforming it into a landmark."

The façade takes the form of small pyramid-like structures made of dark green and grey-coloured triangular lites of laminated glass incorporating a 0.76 mm interlayer of Butacite® PVB. This outer laminated glass envelope provides safety (in line with India’s floor-to-glazing safety glass curtain wall legislation), and noise and heat control.

GSC is currently working on two similar geodesic structures elsewhere in India. These are both commercial office buildings. Each of the three domes incorporates around 3,000 m2 of laminated safety glass incorporating Butacite® PVB. The glass construction is 5 + 5 mm annealed glass with a 0.76 mm PVB interlayer.