Product
LowE Plus with Clear for highest clarity and visible light transmittance – while also excellent Insulation performance (low U-Value).
Specification
- Outer: 6mm Clear Toughened
- Spacer: 12mm Warm Edge + Argon Gas
- Inner: 6mm LowE Plus Toughened
Site Address
Taroona, TAS 7053
Fabricator
Builder / Pre-Fabrication
Merlin Constructions / Candour
Architect
Photos courtesy of
Challenge
A whimsical atmospheric retreat was required for an artistic couple’s home in the rugged terrain of Taroona, Tasmania. Stepping into this unique home brings the sensation of being perched amidst the treetops with panoramic bushland views, evoking a childhood cubby’s playful yet intimate ambience.
Being located on a hillside bush setting, the spectacular site only received limited natural daylight during colder months. Addressing this issue required a commitment to innovative performance materials from the creative design team. With the home incorporating an extraordinary level of glazing, maintaining a climatically optimal building envelope was a key consideration.
Solution
Extensive use of Australian Glass Group’s Insulglass LowE Plus® double glazing created a sense of immersion, blurring the boundaries between the comfortable interior and the wild outdoors. An impressive 300m2 of glazing was used throughout, resulting in superb transparency levels and uninterrupted views.
The huge window-to-wall ratios admit abundant natural light, optimising liveability. To achieve benchmark visual light transmittance (VLT), AGG’s Insulglass LowE Plus® was the natural choice due to its high clarity and transparency.
AGG’s locally manufactured IGUs, featuring a 6/12/6 toughened make-up, provide impressive thermal qualities, strength and load resistance in this extreme climate coupled with Grade A Safety features. Proud heightened quality controls in processing offered minimal roller wave as evident in the uninterrupted reflections.
‘We founded our own structural glazing façade company to construct the structural timber frames, the company is called Candour,’ says Chris Gilbert, Design Director at Archier.
With so much surrounding vegetation, fire safety was obviously a priority. ‘We sought to achieve a BAL-29 rating,’ Chris remembers. ‘To do this, we needed bushfire flyscreens over all operable sections of glass; the Candour façade system is also rated to BAL-29.’
‘The operable timber window system we manufactured and installed in this home allowed for slimline top and bottom profiles without big mullions, crucial to achieving the design brief,’ notes fabricator Andre Griffs at Binq Windows.
These timber frames ably supported the home’s ultra-ambitious window-to-wall ratios. ‘High- performance glazing and windows specifications were critical to achieving the design brief’s aesthetic, functional, and thermal goals, due to the extraordinary window-to-wall ratios,’ Andre continues.
‘Everything possible was done to reduce energy consumption,’ he adds. ‘This included argon-filled, warm edge spaces, substantially reducing conductivity. Substituting the spacers with a far less conductive material reduces energy transferral, significantly improving thermal performance.’
This cross-company collaboration has reaped impressive dividends. ‘The result was only achievable through combining Australian timbers with a high-performance glazing system,’ says Andre. ‘Together with AGG, we’ve been pushing for European standards to be introduced here.’
This home in Taroona’s magnificent bush setting demonstrates all that can be achieved with a mastery of materials.
For more information on Insulglass LowE Plus®, click below: