Two solar control low emissivity (low-e) glass products from Vitro Architectural Glass make up the unitized and site-built curtain wall systems featured in Urban Union, a 268,000-square-foot, 12-story office building that is part of Amazon’s downtown Seattle headquarters expansion project.
Designed by CollinsWoerman, the structure is glazed with Solarban® z50 glass and Solarban 72 on Starphire® glass and features ICD High Performance Coatings’ Telegrey Opaci-Coat-300® in all spandrel areas. A “great room” at ground level is wrapped with a stunning two-story sculptural wood wall and an iconic glass blue cube that warms the entry, and a glass-enclosed conference center with an outdoor terrace at the rooftop offers breathtaking views of Lake Union and the city.
Photography by Tom Kessler
Vitro Certified™ fabricator Hartung Glass Industries, Seattle, fabricated the glass and worked with Vitro and glazing contractor All New Glass, Auburn, Washington, to coordinate deliveries of the two curtain wall systems. “Urban Union is a combination of unitized and site-built curtain wall systems,” said Garth Tait, Hartung sales and technical support. “We had two different delivery challenges with complicated releases on the transitions which needed some extra coordination with Vitro, internally and with All New Glass to marry everything together.”
Located in the bustling South Lake Union neighborhood that is home to many tech industry companies and their employees, Urban Union is fully leased to Amazon and expands the network of open space and pedestrian movement from the Amazon campus west. It can accommodate up to 1,400 employees.
In a standard 1-inch insulating glass unit (IGU), Solarban 72 Starphire glass has a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.28, while Solarban z50 glass has an SHGC of 0.32. The superb solar control performance of these products helped enable the building to earn LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at the Gold level.
To learn more about Solarban z50 glass and the rest of Vitro Glass’s full line of architectural glasses, visit www.vitroglazings.com or call 1-855-VTRO-GLS (887-6457).
