Fire Rated Glass in Education Facilities

Nowadays, around 54% of school districts across the U.S require some sort of replacement or update to the major systems in their buildings. These include conducting regular repairs, improving outdated safety systems, and enhancing the overall functions of the building. While building schools is hardly ever a cheap process, it is an integral component to...

Walking through an open and light-filled indoor space creates visual stimulation, as the rich color and texture of materials in the room stand out. According to Oliver Heath, sustainable architecture and interior design expert, “When we have natural light, it connects us to the time of day, the season, the landscape geography, topography, the flora,...

Each year, approximately 2,300 students are seriously injured due to unsafe wired glass installed in campus windows and doors. In one case, a 13-year-old student severed two major nerves and her Achilles tendon after kicking the metal crash bar of the wired glass door panel while rushing to class. In another incident, a student sustained...

Fire Rated Glass Protects Students from the Inside and Out This article first appeared in the March 2016 issue of Doors and Hardware Magazine. Architects have always incorporated glazing in their designs for a number of aesthetic and functional reasons – vision, transparency, safety and daylighting to name a few. This is especially important to...

Unsafe Wired Glass Remove unsafe wired glass in school renovation. Schools should use fire rated glass alternatives that protect student safety from injury due to impact or fire when they renovate. The average age of a public school is 42 years old. Back then, the only fire rated glass available was wired glass. It’s since...

School renovation is cost effective School renovation is cost effective, and cheaper than new construction. With aging school facilities, shrinking budgets and declining school enrollments, many school districts are choosing to renovate rather than building new because it’s cheaper. School enrollment is declining. Budgets are shrinking. Faced with these realities, more and more school districts...

Use Fire Rated Glass for Vision, Light and Security Purposes. Use fire rated glass for vision, light and security. In this article, schools show ways that fire rated glass brings in natural light and protects against wildfire. Today, there are a wide range of glass and framing systems that are just as fire-resistive as conventional...

Showcase of Superlite II XL in School Settings A Showcase of Superlite II XL in School Settings. These stunning examples of fire resistive glass in schools provide radiant heat protection 24/7. Technological advances in fire rated glass over the last 25 years have given school designers clear, fire-resistive building materials for use in one- and two-hour walls, fire...

Safeguarding Schools from Radiant Heat This article demonstrates how fire resistive glazing tested to ASTM E119 is safeguarding schools from radiant heat. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there’s fire, there’s an invisible deadly threat commonly referred to as radiant heat. When you warm yourself in front of a fireplace, you experience radiant heat firsthand....

Active and Passive Fire Protection Guidelines ABCs of School Fire Protection – The best way to ensure school fire safety is to combine active and passive fire protection systems. Active fire safety includes sprinklers and evacuation plans. Passive fire protection involves choosing fire resistant materials that protect people and property 24/7. Stop, drop and roll...