The question, “How can we control natural light in interior spaces?” is fundamental in architecture. Unregulated direct sunlight can cause discomfort such as visual strain and undesirable heat gains. Therefore, it is crucial to control its entry effectively. Some design solutions include installing shading devices, planning spatial orientation, and building forms for indirect natural light. Window treatments like films or heat-reflective glazing can also be used.
However, there are innovative strategies to control natural light more efficiently through advanced glazing panels like the Kalwall 175CW. This translucent insulated glazing unit is compatible with most third-party curtain wall systems. By manipulating the translucency of the glazed material, it’s possible to influence the visual and thermal comfort of spaces. At the same time, this can enhance the architecture of modern spaces, adding substantial aesthetic and emotional value.
Kalwall 175CW is a product by Kalwall, a company that focuses on human-centered design and investigates how daylight performs within spaces. The company specializes in translucent fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) panel technology, which it uses for facades, skylights, Skyroofs®, canopies, and other building elements.
Its panel technology features a double-glazed FRP face sheet. The exterior version is color stable, with a permanent glass veil erosion barrier to prevent fiber bloom; while the interior version is designed to meet the finish, flame, and smoke requirements of stringent international codes. The panels are bonded with a proprietary adhesive technology and fitted within a grid core of interlocking aluminum and thermally broken I-beams, and have three U-factors to choose from: 0.28, 0.16 and 0.14 (1.29, 0.91 and 0.79 W/m2K) options.
As different parts of a building experience varied daylighting effects, this panel technology provides a solution by creating a versatile translucent panel that allows optimal natural light inside spaces. It evenly scatters visible light waves, providing diffuse daylight to interiors regardless of the sun’s position. Through this, the impact of direct sunlight such as glare is eliminated from spaces and regardless of the time of the day or angle of the sun, one can enjoy a measured daylighting experience throughout the building. This feature enables spaces to achieve targeted daylight levels while transmitting lower percentages of visible light compared to traditional vision glazing.
The panel’s light diffusion also allows indirect light to penetrate deeper into interiors, eliminating the need for other light control measures such as shades and brise soleil. Besides light control, they also provide exceptional thermal performance with a variety of insulation ranges within spaces (0.28 to 0.14 U or 1.29 to 0.79 W/m2K). Its translucent insulation offers resistance to condensation, and its aluminum structural core minimizes thermal bridging. This creates an eco-friendly experience that maximizes energy savings with a Solar Heat Gain Control (SHGC) as low as 0.09. It also helps control solar heat gain in buildings compared to traditional insulated glass units.
Furthermore, the Kalwall 175CW is more than just a glazing panel; it can also serve as a structural panel. Its composite nature provides a high strength-to-weight ratio, making it strong and lightweight. The panels are shatterproof, impact and blast-resistant, fire-resistant, and possess self-cleaning properties, making them both safe and secure for various spaces.
With this measured control over daylighting, the panels can supplement or replace glass in buildings. This compatibility with other building elements allows for a range of design choices. For instance, at the British School of Brussels in Belgium, Kalwall panels serve as indoor pool walls, paired with a glass skylight. This combination creates a blend of measured light from the walls and direct light from the roof. It demonstrates how the new element broadens the palette of architects and designers, enabling them to create relationships between lighting performance and different parts of a space. A similar application is seen in the CANMET Material Technology Laboratory in Hamilton, Canada, where the product is used as a wall system in harmony with glass elements, providing measured lighting. Kalwall panels are also featured in other buildings such as the Aspen Music School in Colorado, Cornell School of Ecology in New York, and Metea Valley High School in Illinois, among others.
Through its versatility, these panels encourage the creation of diverse ambiances for various types of spaces. Designed to be compatible with most curtain wall systems on the market, these translucent insulated glazing units (TIGUs) enable their combination with other infill glazings and opaque claddings, offering endless design possibilities without compromising performance. In addition, they come in a variety of colors, producing different levels of daylight translucency.
The numerous color combinations available give designers the tools to achieve the warm white lights needed for living rooms, hospital rooms or more neutral colors for offices and meeting spaces. These panels can be fabricated into standard grid patterns such as Shoji-reverse, Ladder, Shoji, VertiKal, Tuckerman, and other orthogonal grid patterns.
In summary, the properties of the Kalwall 175CW glazing ensure high performance with third-party curtain wall integration. Its ability to mix and match translucency and vision glazing within the same framing system ensures the perfect balance of varying levels of privacy, vision, and daylight quality in designated areas. This promotes a flexible, human-centered design.
