Fire-Rated Solutions for
Public Buildings
Explore design strategies for transit hubs,
libraries, museums, and more—balancing
safety, aesthetics, and occupant experience.
Fire-rated glazing for public buildings enhances wayfinding, daylighting and code compliance
Fire-resistant-rated curtain walls, doors, and glass partitions provide code-compliant fire and life safety solutions across diverse applications. Beyond protection, these transparent systems enhance daylighting, improve wayfinding, and support occupant-centric design in public spaces—all while offering passive defense against fire, smoke, and radiant heat.
Compartmentalization Without Barriers:
Large public buildings need fire containment. Transparent fire-rated glazing limits fire spread while preserving sightlines.
Clear Egress & Wayfinding:
In museums, transit hubs, and more, fire-rated glass in staircases ensures safe exits and intuitive navigation.
Enhanced Daylighting:
Fire-rated glass for public buildings brightens libraries, mixed-use spaces, and other public areas, creating inspiring interiors.
Seamless Integration:
Narrow-profile fire-resistant curtain walls match non-rated systems, ensuring design continuity while defending against fire, smoke, and radiant heat.
Public buildings must meet energy efficiency, sustainability, and longevity standards, requiring transparency in both design and materials.
TGP provides fire-rated glazing that helps architects achieve these standards while supporting sustainability certifications.
Building a
SUSTAINABLE
Future, One
Lite at a Time
Fire-Rated Glazing & Sustainable Design
The Basics: FIRE-RATED,
SECURITY-RATED GLASS AND FRAMING
No matter what type of building a project is, there will almost always be questions around fire- and life-safety code requirements. But specifiers do not have to find the answers on their own. Learn crucial information about building codes, test standards and how to incorporate fire-rated glazing into public buildings.
Read MoreBeyond The Basics: fire-rated, fire + security-rated glass & framing for public buildings
Seamless Design,
Uncompromised Safety
Learn more about a striking, light-filled transit center that meets rigorous performance standards without sacrificing aesthetics.
Read Case StudyAnswering the Question: Why Can’t Glass Be Fireproof?
Fireproof glass vs. fire-rated glass: what’s the difference?
Learn MoreThe mettle of metal
Fire-rated frames contribute light to code-compliant stairwell design.
Read Case StudyProducts
And Solutions
Meeting code-driven fire rating requirements has never been easier. From fire-resistant curtain walls to butt-glazed, fire-rated glass for staircases, TGP offers innovative solutions that align with building codes while enhancing your design. Discover how our fire-rated systems can overcome challenges and elevate your next public building project.
Public Building Design Resources
Expert Insights
Planning for Fire-Resistance Rated Requirements Without Compromising Aesthetics
Planning for Fire-Resistance Rated Requirements Without Compromising Aesthetics
Although necessary, planning buildings around fire- and life-safety code requirements can often make designers feel like they are in a zero-sum game where code compliance and design freedom are mutual...
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Expert Insights
Fire-Rated Glazing for Zero-Lot-Line Walls: What Architects Need to Know
Fire-Rated Glazing for Zero-Lot-Line Walls: What Architects Need to Know
While the use of fire-rated glazing is predominately relegated to applications within the built environment, there are contexts for which fire and life safety codes require exterior fire-resistive wal...
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Expert Insights
Fire-Resistive vs. Fire-Protective Glass: Understanding Testing Protocols and Safety Standards
Fire-Resistive vs. Fire-Protective Glass: Understanding Testing Protocols and Safety Standards
Section 701 of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) begins, “The provisions of this chapter shall govern the materials, systems and assemblies used for structural fire resistance and fire-resist...
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Expert Insights
Minimize Hazards and Maximize Comfort
Minimize Hazards and Maximize Comfort
Health care design encompasses a wide range of project types. From neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to walk-in clinics, each building presents project teams with several challenges for meeting cod...
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Expert Insights
Security and Ballistic Glass: How are They Different and Which is Better?
Security and Ballistic Glass: How are They Different and Which is Better?
The challenge with designing safer, more secure buildings is that there are often no officially recognized standards that list what features and materials should be used for enhanced security. While t...
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Video
Out-of-The-Box Solution to a Memorable Project
Out-of-The-Box Solution to a Memorable Project
How do you approach a project that requires an out-of-box solution? TGP's General Manager, Devin Bowman, shares why the historic Art Institute of Chicago was a memorable project.
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Expert Insights
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
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 ...
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Expert Insights
Answering the Question: Why Can't Glass be Fireproof?
Answering the Question: Why Can't Glass be Fireproof?
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...
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Expert Insights
Creating Safer Spaces: A Deep Dive into Bullet-Resistant Glass
Creating Safer Spaces: A Deep Dive into Bullet-Resistant Glass
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...
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Expert Insights
Creating Clarity: Are There Disadvantages to Fire-Rated Glass?
Creating Clarity: Are There Disadvantages to Fire-Rated Glass?
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...
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Expert Insights
MFG Day: Building the Manufacturing Community
MFG Day: Building the Manufacturing Community
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...
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Expert Insights
Achieving 24/7 Protection with Fire-Resistant Glazing
Achieving 24/7 Protection with Fire-Resistant Glazing
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...
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Expert Insights
Acting Quickly and Deploying at Scale: An NGA Glass Conference Recap
Acting Quickly and Deploying at Scale: An NGA Glass Conference Recap
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, ...
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Expert Insights
Interview: What You Need to Know About Butt-Glazed Fire-Rated Systems
Interview: What You Need to Know About Butt-Glazed Fire-Rated Systems
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...
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Expert Insights
Interview: Sustainability in the Works with Tim Weller
Interview: Sustainability in the Works with Tim Weller
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...
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Expert Insights
Do Fire Doors Need to be Self-Closing?
Do Fire Doors Need to be Self-Closing?
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...
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Video
Visual Connectivity and Fire Protection—Tulsa Central Library
Visual Connectivity and Fire Protection—Tulsa Central Library
Learn how TGP provided the Tulsa Central Library project team with fire-rated framing and glass to capture natural light and open up views.
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Expert Insights
Commentary: What's Ahead for Fire-rated Glazing?
Commentary: What's Ahead for Fire-rated Glazing?
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 ...
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Expert Insights
Commentary: How Fire-rated Glass Floor Systems Support Daylighting Goals
Commentary: How Fire-rated Glass Floor Systems Support Daylighting Goals
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...
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Case Study
FDNY Rescue Company 2
FDNY Rescue Company 2
Brooklyn, NY
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Expert Insights
Commentary: A Transparent Product with Product Transparency
Commentary: A Transparent Product with Product Transparency
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...
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Expert Insights
Commentary: Glass - Designing With An Eye Towards The Future
Commentary: Glass - Designing With An Eye Towards The Future
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...
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Expert Insights
Interview: Know the Codes - Understanding Fire-Rated Glazing Requirements
Interview: Know the Codes - Understanding Fire-Rated Glazing Requirements
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...
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Case Study
Tulsa Central Library
Tulsa Central Library
Tulsa, OK
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Case Study
Art Institute of Chicago (Modern Wing)
Art Institute of Chicago (Modern Wing)
Chicago, IL
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Video
Complementary Fire-Rated and Non-Rated Curtain Wall Systems
Complementary Fire-Rated and Non-Rated Curtain Wall Systems
Watch on location in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, as we tour TGP’s stainless steel complementary fire-rated and non-fire-rated curtain wall systems in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station.
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Video
Daylighting Down to a Science–Carnegie Science Center
Daylighting Down to a Science–Carnegie Science Center
See the Fireframes® Curtainwall Series application at the Carnegie Science Center, which complements the nearby non-rated curtain wall and opens up views to the café and Ohio River.
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Case Study
Fulton Center Transit Hub
Fulton Center Transit Hub
New York City, NY
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Video
Remove Aesthetic Barriers with Complementary Systems
Remove Aesthetic Barriers with Complementary Systems
TGP’s Fireframes SG Curtainwall® System provides a seamless blend of fire-rated and non-rated curtain wall systems at Kidzania Oakbrook.
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Video
Sleek System Provides Robust Fire Protection
Sleek System Provides Robust Fire Protection
Watch on location as we visit the Riyadh Metro jobsite in Saudi Arabia and review TGP’s Fireframes® Aluminum Series being installed.
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Design Resource
Fire-Rated Basics
Design Resource
Fire-Rated Door Design
Product Selection
Product Comparison
Design Resource
Look Book
Design Resource
Matched Systems
Care for every detail
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