Grafted onto the 19th-century

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More Than a Pretty Façade: Hurricane-rated channel glass tower tops SCAD Museum of Art’s contemporary expansion
August 9, 2013
Hurricane-rated channel glass can provide visually engaging focal points in coastal areas. [CREDIT] Photo courtesy Technical Glass Products
Hurricane-rated channel glass can provide visually engaging focal points in coastal areas. Photo courtesy Technical Glass Products
by Jeff Razwick


brick remains of Georgia’s Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Museum of Art is a 26-m (86-ft) tall, semi-transparent channel glass tower. It is the first application to use hurricane-rated channel glass in a rcs data horizontal, dual-glazed configuration without additional support.


To provide adequate protection, the installation needed to satisfy Miami-Dade County and Florida state requirements. In this instance, the glazing had to be approved only for the Small Missile Impact Test since the tower starts more than 9 m (30 ft) above ground level. However, at the onset of the project, only Large Missile Impact Test approved channel glass was available. While such channel glass provides extra protection, the strict design and glass orientation limitations necessary to meet code hindered the original design intent.