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The Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany, has been given a new glass roof. The construction, realized by Hunsrück-based glass refiner Wagener, now makes the traditional event venue usable all year round. Read how printed glass made it possible to dispense with external shading.
The “Kita Unterm Regenbogen” daycare center in Dingolfing is a prime example of child-friendly construction: the result is a building that combines expressive architecture with sustainable materials. In addition to regional wood from the city forest, functional special glass from Glas Natter, part of the Isolar Group, was used.
Dear readers, here updates and highlights in compact form from the facade, sunshade and glass industries in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (we call it the DACH region). Enjoy.
The Lisec Technology Days 2025 took place in Bad Arolsen on June 25 and 26. Around 60 trade visitors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium took the opportunity to exchange ideas and information on trends, automation solutions, and forward-looking technologies for flat glass processing.
On 1 September 2025, Daniel Feische will move to the Glass Technologies portfolios as the Director and will be fully responsible as of 1 December. He succeeds Lars Wismer, who is taking on the role of Regional Head Messe Düsseldorf for Asia in Singapore.
The completion of the first glass grid shell for the new Stuttgart railway station marks a significant milestone for the Stuttgart 21 infrastructure project. With the completion of this impressive steel and glass dome by seele, a visible connection between the new underground track hall and the city center has been created for the first time.
Chiara Sträßner is taking over the organization of the trade fair for windows, doors and facades. Elke Harreiß, who has been with the trade fair for over 20 years, will remain as Head of Department. In this short interview, Chiara Sträßner talks about her connection to trade fairs and her goals for the future direction of FENSTERBAU FRONTALE.
Photovoltaics, both in the facade and on the roof, clearly is a key source of power for the residential sector. Not all residential buildings are the same, however. Four models of implementing PV in multi-family homes are possible: In Part 1 we showed you how the power can be either used within the entire building or just to operate the shared services. Today we present the other two models.
While glass facades are an indispensable part of contemporary architecture, they often pose a risk to birds. At the Museum Folkwang in the German city of Essen, this problem was resolved using marking elements from Seen. The measure combines effective bird protection with design restraint.
Not only homeowners, but also property owners' associations and tenants can benefit from photovoltaic power, both on the roof and as part of a building-integrated PV facade. There are four models available, depending on what you want to achieve. How do they work, and what are the advantages and disadvantages? Find out here. Plus at the end: a short interview.
Companies across the entire glass value chain can now register for glasstec 2026. From October 20 to 23, 2026, providers from all over the global glass industry will once again meet at the trade fair in Düsseldorf. With its highly international pedigree, glasstec itself is the central platform. It also hosts a supporting program that showcases the future of the glass industry and facilitates knowledge transfer.
A research project involving the TU Dresden, Folienwerk Wolfen, Schott Glass and the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has just been presented at the Glass Performance Days in Finland: A thin laminated glass that combines defined strength with safe breakage characteristics. This marks a major leap forward in material innovation for facade design. See the details.
The Quality Association for PVC Window Profile Systems has reorganized its management team. Christian Fischer from Schüco is taking over as Chairman of the Board, succeeding Michael Stöger from Rehau, who has held the position for many years.
The software start-up Lumeso has won two German Innovation Awards: one in the “Excellence in B2B” category and one in the “Transformative Solutions” category. Its AI-based software automates manual processes, particularly in order data entry. Here are the details.
On May 7 and 8, 2025, the flat glass industry met for its traditional Glass Congress in Dresden. Organized jointly by the German Flat Glass Association (BF) and the Flat Glass Quality Association (GGF), this year's congress once again offered around 160 participants a platform for intensive discussions, exciting presentations, and personal exchanges. The atmosphere was relaxed.
The topic of thin glass especially for new applications in architecture attracted a great deal of interest among trade visitors at the past glasstec and its special show “glass technology live”. On behalf of glasstec the author asked research and industry about the current state of the art, what its limits are and which applications can already be expected by the end of the year: Daniel Pfarr (TU Dresden), Peter Nischwitz (Glaston) and Bernhard Hötger (Hegla) answered.
European manufacturers eyeing the US market can gain valuable insights into NFRC certification and energy efficiency standards at a free online seminar hosted by ift Rosenheim and the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) on July 1, 2025.
On 29 April 2025, the Statistics & Market symposium took place in cooperation with the German Flat Glass Association (BF) and the Window + Facade Association (VFF). After two difficult years, the general consensus at the event was that a tentative turnaround is on the horizon for the glass and window industry. Nevertheless, the industry had to cope with noticeable declines last year, but there is a silver lining at the horizon. Having said that, glass could now become scarce.
The Velbert Institute for Locks and Hardware (PIV) testing institute has expanded its team: Jamal Boumouchoun (52) joined the certification body as an auditor at the beginning of April. The experienced quality expert brings with him in-depth knowledge gained from 27 years at car manufacturer Ford and other positions, and will be responsible for monitoring certified customers in future.
The safety and performance characteristics of building products have to be guaranteed. This also applies to window and facade elements. However, it is not always possible to put these usually large objects through their paces to meet the applicable standards. In Germany, there are only a few window and facade test stands in institutes that are authorised to carry out the tests in accordance with the regulations.
With its spectacular architecture, the luxury hotel ‘Koenigshof, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Munich’, designed by the Spanish architectural firm Nieto Sobejano, provides an exciting counterpoint to the historic buildings on Munich's Stachus. The architects chose highly selective functional glass from Saint-Gobain for the glazing of the five-star hotel.
The amended Construction Products Regulation (EU CPR), which came into force on 7 January 2025, will bring far-reaching changes to the European construction sector, which will also have an impact on fire protection. ‘Fire protection3’ is the motto for this year's ift Fire Safety Conference on 4 and 5 June in Nuremberg, Germany. Here is what to expect as well as some programme highlights.
The German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt) recently granted general type approval (aBG) for Fineo vacuum insulating glass (VIG). Here are the details.
Two German major players in the building envelope sector are joining forces: heroal and Solarlux are launching a strategic partnership that offers building owners and specialised companies real added value. The starting signal was given at BAU in Munich - with exciting prospects.
Glass facades are an integral part of modern architecture, but often pose a danger to birds as they do not recognise reflective or transparent glass surfaces as an obstacle. To minimise this risk, the glass facade of the Futurium in Berlin was fitted with bird protection glass. Find out here which product was used.
