Reflective Glass: A Good Alternative for Facades

Reflective glass is solar controlled, which means that without a doubt, it’s a great alternative for all types of building facades, including your home. This type of glass is made by depositing a layer of silicon on one side through a pyrolysis system.

Because of this technology, reflective glass is designed to reflect the sun’s rays and prevent them from penetrating the room. As an important temperature regulator, this glass also saves energy.  

Choosing the right type of glass for your facade is essential for achieving the results you want. The type you choose depends on whether you want to achieve insulation or focus entirely on aesthetics.

As a building material, the qualities of reflective glass make it a good choice for the best solar control. In addition and due to its characteristics, it’s ideal for achieving high luminosity in homes because it controls the entry of sunlight.

Reflective glass and technological advances

Reflective glass comes in a wide range of colors and each one is intended to complement architects’ ideas. It’s an excellent solution for facades because you can combine this with other materials such as metal or concrete.

Today, thanks to technological advances, we have a variety of high-performance glass products on the market. We can also find glass with different degrees of reflectance and with additional sun protection for situations that require it.

The reflective glass that exists on the market can be cut, drilled, or bent without affecting its coatings. This is all thanks to its special qualities.

Benefits of reflective glass

By installing this type of glass in your home, you can make significant energy savings. This is because of the solar features that allow you to better control natural light.

You can even choose the type of filter that you need for sunlight, according to the requirements you have in each space.

Aesthetics is another important benefit of this material since there’s a wide range of colors to choose from. You can even create a mirror effect on your facade.

Main characteristics of reflective glass

Thanks to the reflective mirror effect, the building’s facade will be able to blend perfectly with its surroundings. Not only that, your building will be able to change shades depending on the time of day and the intensity of the sunlight that it receives.

Reflective glass has the ability to control the sunlight it receives. This ensures that it can substantially reduce the use of air conditioning inside the building.

One of the qualities of reflective glass, on an aesthetic level, is that it has the ability to transmit and reflect sunlight, creating environments with a comfortable interior. You’ll be able to have spaces with much softer tones, thanks to its ability to filter sunlight and reduce glare.

Another feature of this material is that its reflective coating is uniform, allowing the occupants to have a clear, distortion-free view of the outside throughout the day.

Reflective glass also meets high safety standards as it’s tempered, with reinforced inner sheets.

Reflective glass applications

Building facades are among its main applications. However, it’s also used for interior glass screens and windows. Another common use for this material is in shop windows, showcases, displays, or commercial shelving.

Main examples of the use of reflective glass

London City Hall, Norman Foster

The London City Hall building is located on the banks of the River Thames and, due to its unmistakable architecture, has become one of the symbols of the British capital. This spherical-shaped building has been built using the latest technology. The materials that the architect has used are glass and steel.

Thanks to the use of reflective glass, this building works with clean energy. In addition, it provides a generous view of the waterfront and fills the interior with natural light. Due to its location and orientation, the building absorbs sunlight and diffuses light through its enormous inclined glass facade.

Oceanographic of Valencia, Felix Candela

This is the largest aquarium in Europe, with a capacity of 42 million liters of water. Its unique facade in the shape of a water lily is the work of the brilliant architect Félix Candela. It’s located within the complex known as the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia, on the old bed of the Türia river.

The main building, where the main visitor services are located, is shaped like a water lily. It has blue reflective glass facades that simulate the sea.

As we’ve seen, reflective glass facades are a good alternative for both homes and buildings. But we must bear in mind that glass facades will behave differently depending on their geographical and climatic location, orientation and solar time.

Take all of these variables into account when deciding whether to use this type of material in your home.