David Allan Hubbard Library at Fuller Theological Seminary

ARCHITECT	William McDonough + Partners
Facade/Daylighting Engineers
INSTALLER	Zaun Glass
PHOTOGRAPHY	Axel Koester
LOCATION	Pasadena, CA
PANELITE PRODUCT	ClearShade IGU CS-U-TC4

Hubbard is described as a man of “unlimited peripheral vision,” a compelling idea woven into the design in several ways, most demonstrably through window placement and transparency that give the building its copiously daylit interior.

William McDonough + Partners

Challenge

Open to the outside world both literally and metaphorically, William McDonough + Partners’ design aims
to provide ample views and natural daylight.
Typical insulating glass units (IGUs) do not address the dynamic challenge of maximizing daylighting while minimizing solar heat gain.
Transparent IGUs provide views but do not adequately address glare and solar heat gain control, while reflective, tinted or fritted glass options tend to negatively impact views and quality of daylight.
Add-on elements such as light shelves and shades may improve daylighting and solar heat gain control, but they impact views and increase the cost and complexity of design, installation and maintenance.

Panelite Solution

While most glazing solutions favor either heat control, light transmission or views at the expense of the other, ClearShade technology optimizes solar heat control, daylighting and views in a single product.
Cellular ClearShade inserts allow for directional views and redirect the sun’s rays to reduce heat gain while transmitting and diffusing valuable daylight.
ClearShade achieves industry-leading light to solar gain ratios to optimize energy savings, user comfort and productivity, factors that previously required more than one material technology or device.

AMPLE VIEWS / DIRECTIONAL TRANSPARENCY

Visibility through ClearShade units increases as the slightline becomes perpendicular to the unit and as the viewer’s distance to the unit increases.
Visibility also increases with larger cell diameters.
ClearShade inserts are available in a range of colors, opacities, and cell diameters – including custom colors, custom cell diameter or color combinations – to provide more or less visual transparency as required by the program or building orientation, as well as to achieve specific aesthetic effects.

OPTIMIZED DAYLIGHTING / HIGH VISIBLE LIGHT TRANSMISSION + LIGHT DIFFUSION

Daylighting design is the controlled admission of natural light into a building to reduce the need for artificial lighting and save energy, balanced with the need to optimize user comfort by mitigating glare and direct sunlight.
Diffuse daylight allows for maximum productive usage of the building floor plate, since there are no “hot spots” or areas of discomfort at the perimeter.

OPTIMIZED DAYLIGHTING

An MIT daylighting lab study shows ClearShade light diffusion vs. glare from a transparent IGU

SOLAR HEAT GAIN CONTROL

Panelite’s ClearShade insert technology redirects both solar heat and light, deflecting unwanted heat rays while diffusing desirable visible light into the building interior. This saves energy required for cooling and lighting systems, and improves user comfort.
While most solar control technologies favor heat control or light transmission at the expense of the other, ClearShade achieves both, providing up to 75% improvement in solar heat gain control over standard
IGUs, with light transmission ranging from 28-68%.

LIGHT TO SOLAR GAIN RATIO/ ENERGY SAVINGS

ClearShade achieves both solar heat control and daylighting goals, with light-to-solar gain ratios that readily exceed – sometimes by a factor of 2 – the 1.25 benchmark for Green Glazing established by Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program.
Buildings in the United States consume 39% of America’s energy and 68% of its electricity on an annual basis, according to the National Institute of Building Sciences.
Electric lighting accounts for 35% to 50% of total electrical energy consumption in commercial buildings.
By generating waste heat, lighting also adds to the loads imposed on a building’s mechanical cooling equipment. Total energy costs can be reduced by as much as one-third through the optimal integration of daylighting strategies.

Increased visible light transmission = less electrical lighting = energy savings
Reduced solar heat gain = less electrical cooling = energy savings
Optimized light diffusion, glare reduction, and views = user comfort and productivity