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Safety and delight in public attractions – with laminated glass

Laminated glass guitar strings for Jimi Hendrix 'Mecca' in Seattle

GEHRY'S EXPERIENCE MUSIC PROJECT

Founded by investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and designed by architect Frank O. Gehry, Seattle's Experience Music Project (EMP) is a 13,000 m² multi-colored, exuberant museum that opened in June 2000 and provides a musical 'experience' unparalleled anywhere in the world. The EMP collection includes more than 80,000 artifacts that helped shape music history, including Allen's collection of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia – the largest in the world.

Spanish fabricator Cricursa Cristales Curvados helped bring Gehry's design to life by producing a set of 213 cm x 85 cm laminated glass 'guitar strings' that adorn the roof of the building. These were designed with 621 units of colored, laminated tempered glass. The units were fabricated from two plies of 10 mm clear tempered float glass, laminated with DuPont^™ Butacite^® PVB and a Chromafusion^® film by Cesar Color Inc. The lamination process was performed at Cricursa's facilities in Barcelona. Each glass unit is supported with stainless steel connectors, manufactured by Tripyramid, which go through glass holes. Cricursa also collaborated with glazing contractor Permasteelisa and with glass installer, Crown Corr on the project.

Marketing Consultant for Cricursa, Jordi Camps, said: "The challenge was to match the blue and green colors of the laminated glass to Frank O. Gehry's specification – this was achieved through the use of Chromafusion^® - and to obtain the tolerances required to fit the glass in the complex metal structure."