When the EADA Business School in Barcelona was ready for a major renovation, glass was the natural building choice for the project. The school was founded in 1957 and has been in its Aragó Street building since 1990. It was time for a facelift that reflected the school’s high-quality image, as well as provide improved accessibility to classrooms.
The three-phase renovation began in 2016 with a functional reorganization inside the building. The second phase focused on sustainability and energy savings by installing high energyefficient systems for water heating, thermal insulation, sanitation, and lighting. The third and final phase wrapped up in 2019 with the completion of the new glass facade.
Taking Advantage of Natural Resources
CBD Arquitectura’s renovation for the EADA Business School adds color and dimension to what was originally a flat, gray stone exterior. The new façade would be more than a pretty face. It would be resourceful, using natural resources for light and ventilation.
The building’s north / south orientation was ideal for taking advantage of the sun’s passage with a new glass façade. The design by CDB Arquitectura called for 10+10 vertical laminated glass panels that would allow natural lighting and ventilation directly into classrooms, as well as administrative and services areas. Colors found in nature were the inspiration for the Vanceva® PVB interlayers in Sahara Sun and Sapphire that were chosen for the façade.
The façade was facilitated by the removal of windowsills and lintels and the addition of passive sun-control devices to maintain a comfortable interior environment. The façade’s first skin is a natural stone perimeter similar to the original with interior spaces open to a modular glass façade. The second skin provides protection from the sun. Vidresif fabricated the vertical laminated glass panels to be maneuvered to prevent solar heat gain and take advantage of natural light.
Beckoning Nature
All of the classrooms and study areas have access to the new glass façade, creating a warm and inviting learning environment. The school’s ecological and technological offices mimic the beauty of nature indoors with wood-toned workstations and thriving, vertical gardens, which also help to clear the air.
Transitional carpeting and interior glass partitions designate specific areas such as meeting rooms. The glass partitions are made of a selection of laminated, tempered laminated, and curved-laminated glass with Vanceva® PVB interlayers in shades of green. In areas where more privacy was required, an additional interlayer of Vanceva Arctic Snow was added to the panes. This allows glass to remain green in color but be opaque rather than transparent.
EADA Business School’s renovation not only highlights the beauty of colored glass but showcases its versatility when combined with other processes such as tempering, screen printing, daylighting, security, thermal, and more. With plastic laminate-colored interlayers, design possibilities are opened up — inside and out!
The Power of PVB
Credit for the strength and versatility of glass can be attributed to the use of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayers, which provides builtin performance features. Laminated glass is created when two panes of glass are bonded together by a thin, flexible plastic interlayer under heat and pressure.
Most interlayers can be used with annealed, heat-strengthened, or fully tempered glass. The end result is a traditional-looking piece of glass with no optical distortion, but much stronger capabilities. It should be noted that heat processing to strengthen glass does induce a minor amount of softly undulating waves in the glass. However, this characteristic can be controlled to some degree.
PVB interlayers can provide a whole host of features to glass, making it more desirable for use as a building material. Besides strength for structural support, PVB interlayers can give laminated glass the abilities to control light, dampen sound, provide solar protection, reflect heat gain, ensure safety and security, and improve aesthetics.
Colorful Opportunities
Beyond performance attributes, laminated glass offers an aesthetic value to architecture. From no color to subtle whites, trendy earth tones to powerful brights, Vanceva colored interlayers for glass have the ability to transform ordinary buildings and interiors into the extraordinary.
With a palette of more than 17,000 color combinations and the ability to combine up to four colored interlayers together, it is possible to achieve more than 3,000 transparent or translucent glass colors. Even two different colors can be used simultaneously for a different effect on either side of one pane.
Incorporating PBV interlayers in glass allows architects and designers to let their imaginations run wild with creative uses for both interiors and exteriors.
The World’s Most Colorful Competition
EADA joined an exclusive club in 2020, receiving an honorable mention from the Vanceva® World of Color Awards™, a bi-annual global competition. The competition honors architects, interior designers, and other industry professionals who have demonstrated innovative use of Vanceva color interlayers for laminated glass in their work. Chosen from a worldwide portfolio of submissions, these projects are recognized for their creative use of glass with laminated color interlayers, superior aesthetics, and degree of attention paid to the overall benefits and technology of laminated glass.
Once the competition opens, Eastman receives entries from all across the world. The next World of Color Awards competition is scheduled to open in 2022.
For more information, and to see the 2020 winners, visit Vanceva.com
This article was originally published in IGS Magazines Winter 2020 Issue: Read the full Magazine here for more thought-leadership from those spearheading the industry
Project Credits
Project name: EADA Business School
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Architects: CDB arquitectura | www.cdbarquitectura.com
Glass Laminator: Vidresif | www.vidresif.com
Architectural PVB Interlayers: Vanceva® Colors, www.vanceva.com
Featured Product: Vanceva® Colors combinations: 0183, 1387, 08EH and 0018 Completion
Date: 2019
Photo credits: Jose Masterton
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