Andrew Lewis Details Advancements in Glass Engineering and Design

Andrew Lewis, an associate principal based in Philadelphia, recently spoke to Construction Specifier and Building Enclosure magazines about how NK Architects is advancing the use of glass in higher education and healthcare facilities.

“The research seems abundantly clear,’’ Andrew said: “it’s important to understand the passage of time, and how light moves throughout the course of a day. … In healthcare work, the research is even more clear. People who are in a hospital room recover faster when they have a view and can see nature.”

In particular, he unpacked the design of the Liberty Hall Academic Center at Kean University, which uses channel glass to bring natural light into exhibition areas which occasionally display light-sensitive materials: “We do have natural light,” he said, “but we used a product that was a fairly opaque glass. It was very filtered, but it’s still natural light.” Using channel glass also allowed for larger areas of transparency with less support structure.

What’s more, the project used advanced building modeling to predict exactly how the space would perform: “With that kind of information,” Andrew said, “you can develop the appropriate technical and physical characteristics of the building. You begin to understand what the light conditions are, how to provide views for the student environment, and being able to deliver things that are important in an educational environment.”

Read more in Construction Specifier and Building Enclosure.