Feb 15 2013
A new state-of-the-art city hall and public safety building in Cottage Grove, Minn., is using dynamic glass from SAGE to control and optimize natural daylight so the city council can better conduct its business.
A new state-of-the-art city hall and public safety building in Cottage Grove, Minn., is using dynamic glass from SAGE to control and optimize natural daylight so the city council can better conduct its business. (Photo: Business Wire)
The Cottage Grove City Hall installed a 30-ft x 10-ft curtain wall of SageGlass® in the city council chambers to provide natural light and a view to the outdoors throughout the day, with the ability to darken the glass on demand when needed for showing videos and presentations.
The newly constructed 67,000 square-foot, $15 million facility, which came in $2 million under budget, was designed to improve the way Cottage Grove serves its residents. According to architect John McNamara, AIA, LEED AP and partner at Wold Architects and Engineers, the room where SageGlass was installed required an advanced glazing technology to manage problematic sun conditions.
“Daylighting is an important design consideration for both energy efficiency and for the well-being of the people inside the facility,” McNamara said. “But the sun can also cause unwanted glare at times when you need to view video. SageGlass allowed us to maximize daylight yet darken the chamber on demand without having to resort to motorized shades, blinds or other costly sun controls.”
SageGlass is electronically tintable dynamic glass that maximizes daylight and outdoor views in buildings while controlling glare and heat gain. The glass can darken or clear manually or automatically to save energy and help keep building occupants continuously comfortable throughout the day.
In the City Hall council chambers, which contain TVs, projector screens and presentation areas, light sensors mounted on the curtain wall automatically adjust SageGlass’ tint throughout the day to provide just the right amount of natural light. It can also be tinted manually with the push of a button when council business requires a dark environment.
Heidi Baruth, project manager at Capital City Glass, which installed the SageGlass curtain wall, said working with electrochromic glazing for the first time was surprisingly easy. “The installation went well and it works seamlessly with the light sensor controls,” she said. “We’re excited about being able to offer customers an advanced glazing product that solves more complex sun control problems for a variety of projects in the future.”