lgn1202

Laminated glass dome weatherproofs Opryland Hotel extension

The Opryland's glass atrium is one of the largest in the world.

The Grand Old Opry concert hall in Nashville, Tennessee, is a worldwide Mecca for fans of Country and Western music. Developers of a $175 million extension to the nearby Opryland Hotel and Convention Centre in 1996 faced the challenge of providing the perfect, year-round climate for the complex's shoppers, diners and convention guests. The solution: a 650-ton, laminated glass atrium ranking among the largest of its kind in the world.

Glass fabricator, Viracon of Owatonna, Minnesota supplied 5,000 panels of 30 cm x 40 cm laminated glass with DuPont^™ Butacite^® PVB for the skylight, which reaches as high as 50 meters and covers 4.5 acres. Beneath are 1,000 new hotel rooms, free-standing retail shops, food and beverage outlets, meeting rooms, a large restaurant styled after an ante-bellum mansion, landscaped gardens with exotic plants and a 30 meter-high waterfall which feeds into a 500 meter-long river.

According to Randy Nale, Project Architect from Earl Swensson Associates of Nashville: "Laminated glass is specified by US building codes for overhead glazing for safety reasons. In the event of impact, the glass will not shatter on people below. Taking into account the massive weight and size of the skylighting, we wanted to ensure that the system of connecting supports did not detract from the glass and sky – since we wanted these as the dominating features of the roof's design. We therefore devised a bow-string, steel construction for the roof which addressed aesthetic and performance issues very well and which was also very cost-effective."

The laminated glass atrium kept the gardeners and the engineers happy.

Even more difficult than the design of the skylight's framing system, however, was selecting the type of laminated glass needed to respond to the various needs of the Delta complex. The horticulturists who were designing the Delta Addition's lush gardens full of exotic plants and flowers wanted to make sure that there was maximum light transmittance so their plants could thrive and grow. The mechanical engineers, on the other hand, needed a low shading co-efficient to keep the complex comfortable for visitors and ensure that air conditioning costs were kept to a reasonable level.

Viracon worked with the architects to come up with a solution that satisfied both of these needs. The fabricator's green Laminated Solarscreen VH 12-75 contains a Low-E coating transmitting around 70% of visible light – good news for both the exotic plants and trees and also the visitors inside the complex. Meanwhile, the laminated glass shading coefficient of 0.51 eliminates the oppressive solar heat gain typically associated with large-scale glass roofing.

Thanks to this laminated glass solution, visitors can enjoy the lush atmosphere of the Tennessee sunshine – while staying relaxed and cool!