Monday, April 26, 1999

Tapa


File photo
The Kaiser Permanente Tower on Cooke Street keeps cool.



Tinted glass is cool
inside and out

Wat Dat?They can see out, but you can't look in, at least in daytime. At night, when the light inside mirrored buildings is brighter than the outside, the mirror switches sides.

Buildings covered with glass aren't new, but in the '90s there has been a boom in brightly colored buildings that look like gigantic mirrors. "Glass technology has improved dramatically in the last 10 years, and architecture is -- reflecting -- that," said Honolulu architect Glenn Mason.

According to industrial-glass expert Eric Carson, president of Reflections, it's due to "pyrolytic coatings," which is easy for him to say.

"Most of what you see on large buildings is hard-coat pyrolytics, in which a chemical coating is pseudo-baked onto a glass substrate that is already tinted, such as the color bronze," said Carson. "In soft-coat pyrolytics, the coating isn't baked, and it's more fragile. It's typically on the inside of dead-air insulated windows, which uses two pieces of glass around a sealed air space. The advantage there is that you have four layers of tinting, and each can have a different property."

The advantage of reflective glass is that it not only provides privacy, it reflects heat. Such glass-fronted buildings aren't hothouses -- in fact, they may be cooler than comparable solid structures. This translates to energy savings. Plus, they look cool. "Aesthetics are a major factor," said Carson. "It's one of the primary reasons architects use it."

Reflective glass can be used in homes as well, and is manufactured by outfits such as Libby Owens Ford, Guardian and AFG. Expect to pay at least twice as much as clear glass.

Tapa

THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF
HAWAIIAN LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Spreading Aloha

art

While motoring through Aloha, Ore., Bryce Yamamoto of Kaneohe thought for a second they had switched states. Nope. The van at right is obscuring the word "school." But we're wondering about the giant Easter Bunny in the foreground.


The Search for Signs of Hawaiian Life in the Universe is just that -- we're looking for evidence of Hawaiiana everywhere but Hawaii. Send snapshots and a description to TSFSOHLITU, Today Department, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, or e-mail JPEGS or TIFFs to features@starbulletin.com

By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin



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