Jun 21 2013
The past few years have seen strong momentum for market adoption of electronically tintable dynamic windows that maximize daylight and outdoor views. SAGE has been the pioneer of this technology for years and is celebrating its 10-year anniversary of shipping commercial product this week at the 2013 AIA Convention.
Since the first shipment of SageGlass® to the Palm Springs Desert Regional Medical Center in 2003, the company’s advanced glazing technology has been installed in hundreds of commercial and residential buildings, including some of the world’s most significant feats of energy-efficient architecture.
The DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab, the LEED® Platinum certified Southface Eco Office in Atlanta, Philadelphia’s iconic Kimmel Center, Virginia Tech’s Solar Decathlon and AIA-winning LumenHAUS, and the Siemens Wind Turbine Facility in Hutchinson, Kansas, are just a few of the many sustainable building projects employing SageGlass to improve the way people experience daylight in buildings.
SAGE has undergone a dramatic evolution over these past 10 years, expanding from a glass technology startup to the world’s foremost dynamic glass provider, to its acquisition by the world’s largest building materials company, Saint-Gobain.
Along the way, the company has racked up an impressive list of honors and corporate milestones. Decades of intensive R&D in electrochromic glazing technology has given SAGE a wealth of intellectual property (IP) with more than 250 patents. SAGE has also amassed dozens of top industry accolades, from The Wall Street Journal’s Technology Innovation Award and Bloomberg’s New Energy Pioneer Award, to Architectural Products’ Innovation Award, Sustainable Industry’s Top 10 Green Products Award and the BATIMAT International Innovation Award.
Much of SAGE’s success over the past 10 years has also been driven by strong partnerships it has forged with many of the world’s leading window, curtain wall, skylight and building system control companies, including Marvin Windows and Doors, Viracon Inc., Schneider Electric, Lutron, Crystal Windows & Door Systems, Harmon Inc., Architectural Wall Systems, LinEI Signature, Super Sky, YKK AP, Wasco Skylights and Wausau Window and Wall Systems.
Over the past decade SAGE has also gone global, with its first international installation in 2008 at Winter Garden in Moscow. Last year the company opened operations in China, and expanded its North American footprint to include representatives in Canada and Mexico. In January 2013, SAGE announced its new European management structure, forming an impressive leadership team of architectural and glass experts drawn from Saint-Gobain. Some of SAGE’s recent international customers include the Provincial House of Utrecht in the Netherlands, the Habitat Lab in Milan, Italy, and the Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia.
Looking ahead, SAGE’s 10-year-anniversary initiates a new phase in its evolution. The company has completed the world’s largest and most advanced electrochromic glass manufacturing facility in Faribault, Minn. The new 324,000-square-foot operation brings dynamic glass to the mass market, thanks to the ability to cost effectively manufacture SageGlass in large sizes and high volumes.
“It’s been a great run so far, but we’re really just getting started,” said John Van Dine, SAGE founder and CEO. “My sights are now on what we’re going to do in the next 10 years. We’ve assembled the best employees, the best partners and a new state-of-the-art manufacturing capability that will enable us to proliferate the adoption of dynamic glass across the globe. The marketplace is ready, and so are we.”
See SAGE in Booth #2111 at AIA in Denver June 20-22