EXPERT INSIGHTS
Featured Insight
The Art and Science of Designing Safer Schools
The Art and Science of Designing Safer Schools
Date: 6/8/2023
The building industry is at a critical point. As more school districts incorporate voluntary security measures, everyone involved in school planning has pushed to innovate architectural systems and de...
>>
Featured Insight
Enhancing School Safety with Fire-Rated Glass Doors
Enhancing School Safety with Fire-Rated Glass Doors
Date: 11/1/2024
Designing safe schools can have multiple meanings. For a security professional, it could mean understanding and applying the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). For a ...
>>
Featured Insight
Part of a System: How Fire-Resistant Glazing Plays a Part in Life-Safety Design
Part of a System: How Fire-Resistant Glazing Plays a Part in Life-Safety Design
Date: 5/24/2024
Life-safety design pertains to a building’s ability to protect its occupants from fire and other life-threatening emergencies. Many materials can contribute to life-safety designs, but some may limit ...
>>
Featured Insight
Answering the Question: Why Can't Glass be Fireproof?
Answering the Question: Why Can't Glass be Fireproof?
Date: 3/11/2024
Creating a safe environment for occupants is so important that councils and associations have developed building codes to ensure each building fulfills certain baseline requirements. In turn, independ...
>>
Featured Insight
Creating Safer Spaces: A Deep Dive into Bullet-Resistant Glass
Creating Safer Spaces: A Deep Dive into Bullet-Resistant Glass
Date: 3/11/2024
In recent years, forced entry- and bullet-resistant glass have seen increased use in multiple occupancy types, from schools, banks, currency exchanges, police stations, embassies, military installatio...
>>
Featured Insight
Creating Clarity: Are There Disadvantages to Fire-Rated Glass?
Creating Clarity: Are There Disadvantages to Fire-Rated Glass?
Date: 1/22/2024
Fire-rated glass allows designs that would have been difficult, if not impossible, decades ago. Whereas previously, fire- and life-safety code requirements were only achievable with opaque materials o...
>>
Featured Insight
MFG Day: Building the Manufacturing Community
MFG Day: Building the Manufacturing Community
Date: 10/5/2023
Each year, the first Friday of October is MFG Day, and with it comes a series of events meant to explain the vital role manufacturing plays in our everyday lives: from the products we use to the commu...
>>
Featured Insight
Glass is in Session: Specifying Fire-Rated Glazing for Educational Settings
Glass is in Session: Specifying Fire-Rated Glazing for Educational Settings
Date: 9/14/2023
Due to the well-studied evidence that access to daylight supports academic success, glass has become a mainstay in school design. It can help bring light into a school’s interior and support the colla...
>>
Featured Insight
Achieving 24/7 Protection with Fire-Resistant Glazing
Achieving 24/7 Protection with Fire-Resistant Glazing
Date: 8/30/2023
Towards the end of the 19th century, the building and insurance industries were at a crossroads—electricity had just begun brightening factories, stores and other commercial buildings, but it also pre...
>>
Featured Insight
Acting Quickly and Deploying at Scale: An NGA Glass Conference Recap
Acting Quickly and Deploying at Scale: An NGA Glass Conference Recap
Date: 8/3/2023
Glass is changing. That was the throughline at the NGA’s Glass Conference in Tacoma, Wash. Whether it is promoting sustainable building practices or enhancing school security, glazing’s capabilities, ...
>>
Featured Insight
In Profile: How Narrow, Fire-Rated Frames Support School Building Design
In Profile: How Narrow, Fire-Rated Frames Support School Building Design
Date: 4/5/2023
The majority of a child’s time is spent at school, second only to sleep, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve. Creating a learning environment that meets fire- and life-safety code re...
>>
Featured Insight
Interview: What You Need to Know About Butt-Glazed Fire-Rated Systems
Interview: What You Need to Know About Butt-Glazed Fire-Rated Systems
Date: 9/14/2022
Q: How would you describe a butt-glazed fire-rated system to someone who is new to the glazing industry? Put simply, a butt-glazed fire-rated system is composed of clear lites of fire-rated and impact...
>>
Featured Insight
Interview: Sustainability in the Works with Tim Weller
Interview: Sustainability in the Works with Tim Weller
Date: 6/30/2022
It’s an understatement to say a lot has changed on the green building front in the last 20 years. LEED went from being an acronym no one could define in the early 2000s to an accepted industry term. I...
>>
Featured Insight
Do Fire Doors Need to be Self-Closing?
Do Fire Doors Need to be Self-Closing?
Date: 6/13/2022
Fire-rated doors and their proper use have recently come to the forefront in discussions about fire safety. As more people return to offices, commercial buildings and other public spaces, facility ope...
>>
Featured Insight
Commentary: What's Ahead for Fire-rated Glazing?
Commentary: What's Ahead for Fire-rated Glazing?
Date: 5/18/2022
Providing more than functional value While today’s market conditions continue to impact the future of the built environment, fire- and life-safety codes have and will remain touchstones for building ...
>>
Featured Insight
Commentary: How Fire-rated Glass Floor Systems Support Daylighting Goals
Commentary: How Fire-rated Glass Floor Systems Support Daylighting Goals
Date: 2/21/2022
Windows are by no means the only way to daylight a building. Skylights and atriums can effectively pull large amounts of natural light deep into a building’s interior, making them instrumental for day...
>>
Featured Insight
Commentary: System Solutions–Meeting the Need for School Safety and Security
Commentary: System Solutions–Meeting the Need for School Safety and Security
Date: 9/13/2021
As incidents over the last decade have shown, safety and security are more than just buzzwords in schools and universities. Many educational environments are increasing safety protocols and adopting v...
>>
Featured Insight
Commentary: A Transparent Product with Product Transparency
Commentary: A Transparent Product with Product Transparency
Date: 7/15/2021
When considering products for a project, architects need a quick way to verify a material’s composition to determine whether or not the product will support their green building goals. That’s where De...
>>
Featured Insight
Commentary: Glass - Designing With An Eye Towards The Future
Commentary: Glass - Designing With An Eye Towards The Future
Date: 10/23/2020
There is no question that the built environment is at an inflection point as we navigate the current health crisis. Firms are reconfiguring offices to encourage people to spread out and use flexible w...
>>
Featured Insight
Interview: Insights with Top Safety and Security Glazing Professional
Interview: Insights with Top Safety and Security Glazing Professional
Date: 9/17/2019
Making sure schools are safe from disastrous fires is vital when it comes to the building of educational facilities. Along with the importance of fire-safety in schools, the rise of school shootings i...
>>
Featured Insight
Interview: Know the Codes - Understanding Fire-Rated Glazing Requirements
Interview: Know the Codes - Understanding Fire-Rated Glazing Requirements
Date: 2/28/2018
When it comes to fire-rated glazing, knowing and understanding what the building codes require is critical. The codes are changing constantly, so it can be tough to keep up with the requirements. Thom...
>>