The vivaNext blog documented the construction of the station and really did their homework when it comes to the details of fabrication to installation. Here are some highlights on the fabrication process:

“the VMC glass was laminated and tempered for strength and safety. First the glass was cut into panes, and then it went through a special process to make it extra strong. This way, if it breaks, it crumbles into small granular chunks instead of sharp pieces. To add more strength and make it even safer, we then laminated the tempered glass by sandwiching two glass sheets together around an interlayer. If the glass is broken, the interlayer holds the small pieces together instead of breaking into many little shards, the same way a car windshield stays together in an accident. The interlayer on the blue skylight glass is actually a different, stronger material than the interlayer used for the clear side glass, since the top skylight needs to support heavier loads from snow and maintenance workers.” Read more about the construction process here.

TEMPERED GLASS

In order to provide greater resistance to thermal, mechanical stresses, and achieve specific break patterns for safety glazing applications, annealed float glass can be subjected to a heat-treating process such as tempering. Tempered glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal treatments. It is four times stronger than annealed glass. Tempering shrinks the face of the glass, thus putting the outer surfaces into compression and the inner surfaces into tension. This imprisoned energy causes the glass, when broken, to shatter into small, granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards. The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury.

LAMINATION

Laminated glass is a safety glazing material that holds together when shattered. Laminated glass may crack upon impact, but the glass fragments adhere to the protective interlayer rather than falling free and potentially causing injury. Typically laminated glass is constructed with two plies of glass permanently bonded together or tempered. AGNORA can laminate up to 8 layers of glass and 100mm – 4″ thickness.