A transit hub for about 300,000 passengers a day needs a bright, open atrium while still keeping fire compartments. The answer is fire-rated glass that looks no different from ordinary glass.
Reference project — not a Eurowindow project. This article summarises public information from the sources listed at the end, with our own commentary. Images belong to their owners and are embedded directly from Pinterest with a link back to the source.
The centrepiece is a glass oculus about 16 m across and the Sky Reflector-Net artwork of 952 perforated aluminium panels that carry daylight down to the lower levels.
According to Building Design + Construction and Technical Glass Products, the fire-rated curtain wall around the atrium uses Pilkington Pyrostop fire-rated insulating glass units with the same decorative frit as the non-rated glass, so the facade looks continuous. Grimshaw said a clean, transparent curtain wall was key to the design.
Note: figures and descriptions above come from the sources cited at the end; we quote them for reference and have not verified them independently.
Fulton Center reminds us of three things about fire-rated walls in public buildings:
If you are weighing options for a high-rise project, send your brief to the Eurowindow technical team to discuss specifics.
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