The steel gridshell supports large double-glazed units, which are key to the environmental modulation of the building, reinforcing the design team’s intent to achieve as much environmental control as possible through passive means before resorting to active systems. As part of that strategy, the glazing has very high visual light transmission (VLT) coupled with a very low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC).
This is achieved through a low-E coating on the inner face of the glass, which means that approximately 64% of light is transmitted into the building with only 38% of the corresponding solar heat gain.