Glass House Design in India

Should Glass Be Used on Home Facades in India?

Does glass makes sense as a material in our home facades? Let's explore its pros and cons

17 June 2021

Houzz India Contributor, Architect, Architectural Writer and Content Writer. Painting, craft work, pets and good food are my getaways. Cultures and colours always inspire me. Email: shristi012@gmail.com, Business profile: @decoretteindia.

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Gleaming glass-enveloped facades have become a popular choice for structures as building technologies have advanced. Architectural glass has enthralled the world's best architects into creating iconic buildings like the Louvre Pyramid at Paris, the National Centre of Performing Arts in Beijing and the Gherkin in London, amongst numerous others. Owing to its allure, glass has found its way to residential elevations, too.

However, is it a good idea to deploy glass on the exteriors of our homes? With the torrid temperatures we experience in India most of the year, is transparent glass a better alternative to thick masonry? Is investing extra effort and money in maintaining glass elevations worth it? Let's delve a bit deeper and see if glass makes sense for an Indian home's exterior.

What is glass?
Glass is mainly composed of silica (commonly found in sand) and other recyclable compounds. When treated under extreme temperatures, it melts to a clear liquid state. The liquid is then cooled to make transparent sheets of glass of desired thicknesses. It is considered a sustainable product as it can be recycled again and again with no alteration in its quality, thus saving on natural resources.

Use of architectural glass in Indian facades has come up as a building trend in the home sector partly due to its huge success in the West. Of course, it is great for cold regions where one is looking to bring in more light and heat into the interiors. But does glass makes sense in India?

Pros

• Architectural glass, when used as a transparent facade material, is capable of putting life into any boxed building. By life, I mean to open up to the environment by enabling an indoor-outdoor visual connection.

• Glazing helps in bringing daylight into the home throughout the day. This directly lets you cut down on artificial lighting to a considerable extent.

• Good-quality architectural glass, when installed correctly, is strong enough to keep the indoors safe from bad weather, including heavy rain and wind.

• Although glass surfaces show even small amounts of dust and dirt, they do not wither, rust or warp over time.

• Any architectural glass surface can be treated with laminated films to induce colour or pattern to an otherwise plain front.

• A glass facade installation is quicker than building a masonry wall.

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Cons

• Daylight brings a substantial amount of heat into the building. Especially in Indian homes, where cooling is needed for almost 8 out of 12 months of the year in most cities, heat intake becomes a major setback. If glass is the only bulwark against the sun, as temperatures rise, the indoor cooling needs increase as well.

• When installed without sufficient shading devices and surface treatment, glass allows daylight glare into the interiors.
• Glass surfaces have low thermal mass and they tend to pass on heat more easily compared to other exterior materials like concrete, brick, wood and so on. Transfer of heat directly shoots up the cost of temperature maintenance.

• Its resistance to impact and stress is lower than structural and masonry materials. This not only makes glass a poor choice for earthquake- and cyclone-prone regions, but also raises security issues.
• The chances of installation errors are higher in a glass facade construction. Any faulty setup becomes the inlet for water seepage, air draughts and noise.

• The installation and retrofitting in glass elevations demand very skilled labour. This, ultimately, adds to the bottom line of the material.

• Glass facades need regular cleaning and maintenance, thereby increasing the overall post-installation and lifelong maintenance cost.

Best practices
If you still want glass facades, there are ways to make it more compatible with our climate. The bulletin on High Performance Glass by IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) includes the factors that need to be considered while choosing glass as a facade material. High Performing Glass reduces the ingress of heat, while ensuring maximum daylight is captured through the glazed surface. High Performance Glazing has a lower U-value (rate of heat flow due to conduction), lower SC (Shading Coefficient – the extent of solar heat gain compared to conventional glass) and high VLT (Visible Light Transmission), while blocking ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (heat) rays. Such glass can result in energy savings of up to 35-40 per cent.

Architectural glass can also be treated in various other ways to enable it to combat heat, glare and security issues.

• Double-glazing and triple-glazing can be applied to lower the U-value and SC of any glazed area.
• Gases like argon and krypton can be added between the multiple glass panels to further lower the U-value.
• Glass can be tinted grey or brown to lessen the ingress of heat and light. On the other hand, blue and green tints allow visible light through but block out heat to some extent.
• Any glass surface can also be treated with a reflective coat (of a very thin layer of metal) to reduce the U-value, SC and VLT.

• Often, glass panels are coated with an anti-shatter coat on either side to prevent breakages due to manual or natural impacts or stress. Proper installation minimises the odds of cracking or disintegration.

Glass House Design in India

Source: https://www.houzz.in/magazine/should-glass-be-used-on-home-facades-in-india-stsetivw-vs~110819678

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