About Our Customer

The Government of India’s REC HQ in Gurugram is an architectural masterpiece that the country can be proud of. On completion, it will become India’s first ever net positive building with an incredibly high performing façade. The imposing structure, located amid a 4.2 acre plot in Gurugram, has evolved automation and controls to optimize energy saving procedures.

The façade is close to completion, and it is already one of India’s most prominent structures. The building has curtains of green vines that offer additional protection from the sun while beautifying the exterior. The solar panels on the roof generate enough electricity for the property, reducing the structure’s reliance on external power.

• Developer: JMC Projects
• Architects: Chelsea West Architects, USA
• Processor: FG Glass, India
• Glass: Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG), Solarban® 72 Starphire, USA

The Need

Given the target of being a net positive structure, we had to source the ideal glass for the façade without compromising on aesthetics. The design called for an elegant, self ventilated white glass façade that significantly reduced solar heat gain without affecting light transmission. 

The Challenge

The project team comprised world-renowned practitioners, including Chelsea West Architects, a New York based architectural firm. As a consequence, we made every design decision keeping the most exacting international standards in mind. Additionally, we had to meet the building’s high sustainability requirements, which made the search for the perfect glass all the more difficult.

The key challenges were to:

• Identify a glass product that met the stringent sustainability requirements without compromising on aesthetics
• Choose glass that had a whitish glow, meeting the original design requirements
• Process triple silver low-E coated glass without diminishing its characteristics, optics & clarity

The FG Glass Solution

For this project, FG underwent an extensive glass procurement process. Keeping the extremely stringent requirements in mind, we decided to use Solarban® 72 Starphire, a premium offering from Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG, USA).

Solarban® 72 Starphire is a triple silver low-E coated glass that provides the world’s best spectral selectivity of 2.37. Additionally, the coating allows for high light transmission of 64%, greatly reducing the need for artificial lights during the day. Most importantly, the solar heat gain coefficient is very low, just 0.2, making it the ideal choice for a sustainable and energy efficient property.

The façade was envisioned with a white gradient look from the exterior and a uniform black appearance from the interior. The idea behind this was to ensure seamless views from the inside, with the neutral black shade perfectly blending in with the view. To achieve this, we used a unique frit pattern on the glass.

The FG Glass Advantage

When the project was commissioned in 2016, FG was the only option for the façade. We are the only processor in India that could offer the dual vision frit that appeared white from the outside but black from the inside. Additionally, our long-standing association with Vitro Architectural Glass allowed us to procure and process specialty triple silver low-E coating on ultra-clear glass. Although these products are not available in the country, we leveraged our experience, expertise and relationship to procure the glass for this project. Most importantly, our experience in processing complicated and complex glass assemblies made us the obvious choice. With the help of our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, we delivered glass that met the project’s stringent demands while avoiding optical distortion.