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Glass for facades

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What's your challenge?
Design with glass

From anti-reflection to color tints, modern glass enhances design in many ways.

Build with glass

Whatever the construction challenge, we have the glass to help meet it.

Glass for your home

See how the correct choice of glass can help transform a home – and even our wellbeing.

Highlights
122 Leadenhall - The Cheesegrater

The 75,000 square metres façade features a curtain wall that is double glazed to allow for a high solar protection on neutral-looking glass.

Fruit and Wool Exchange

The new-build façades are predominately brick-faced, with punched windows to reflect the surrounding context.

Caudwell International

Curved glass, punch windows and precast stone panels make up the envelope on a figure-of-eight footprint.

Discover our showcase projects, captured through the lens of professional photography.

Explore Guardian Glass projects in your area and beyond with Google Street View and be inspired by the possibilities.

Highlights
Our story

Just as we were in 1932, we're ready to meet the challenges of now and the future

Environmental priorities

Find out more about how glass can support sustainable design

Quality control

We strive for quality in everything we do

Glass for facades

The fine art of first impressions

A glass facade for a commercial building or retail storefront should provide the best possible performance combined with the most appealing aesthetics. The variety of glass available for facades allows architects and designers to control every aspect of performance, from thermal and solar control to security, colour and the overall design statement of the building.

  • Curtain wall

    A curtain wall is a non-structural outer covering of a building. Since it is non-structural, it can be made of lightweight materials, helping thereby to reduce construction costs.

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  • Curved facades

    Curved glass, also referred to as bent glass, is glass that has been heated past its softening point and formed into a curved shape, either by annealed gravity bending, or by heat-treated (tempered or heat-strengthened) bending. In case of gravity bending, the softened glass is placed over or into a mould and cooled down slowly after the required shape is achieved.

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  • Louvers

    Around the world, there is a growing trend in the use of glass louvers and screens for commercial buildings and retail storefronts driven by the increased desire for solar shading and to better control daylighting and energy efficiency throughout the building.

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  • Spandrels

    Spandrel glass is the opaque glass that conceals structural building components such as columns, floors, HVAC systems, vents, electrical wiring and plumbing, preventing these from being visible from the exterior of the building. Curtain wall and structurally glazed designs often require the use of spandrel glass to achieve an architect’s vision of the finished project.

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  • Roofs and skylights

    Roof glazing can safely be used throughout a building roof, reducing the need for artificial lighting, providing a natural source of daylight while still addressing solar and thermal insulation needs. By introducing natural daylight through the core of a building, glass roofs create bright, inviting interiors.

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  • Balustrades

    Glass can be safely used for balustrades, railings and barriers in a building, bringing natural light into open spaces. Glass balustrades allow light to pass through, reducing the need for artificial lighting and providing a natural source of daylight. Glass balustrades and barriers add a stylish, open plan feel to an office or public building.

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  • Bird friendly glass

    Each year, millions of birds accidentally fly into glass windows, doors and facades, with many of these collisions being fatal. As glass continues to make up more and more of the external building envelope, it is likely that the number of birds affected by this problem will increase over the coming years.

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  • Building-integrated photovoltaics

    Sustainable, Energy Efficient Buildings with BIPV Solutions. The use of solar power to achieve higher energy ratings and reach Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) levels for commercial buildings is a topic of increasing interest to architects, owners and developers of new builds and external envelope refurbishments. SEE MORE

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  • Dynamic glazing

    Visual comfort, thermal comfort and energy savings. In buildings, it is always important to ensure the comfort and wellbeing of occupants. Natural light and uninterrupted views of occupants.

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