Glazing some of the UK’s most prestigious shopfronts
For the designers of Knightsbridge Gate, a landmark mixed-use development that occupies an entire block of the street, providing the best possible shopfronts for the retailers that will occupy the scheme’s ground floor was a top priority.
While most of the building has been newly constructed, the 120m long Edwardian street-facing façade has been retained, along with its 17 glazed shopfronts.
The glazing for each of the frontages is held in place by decorative oak frames that have been carefully re-created according to the original design.
To ensure that the units look their best, the designer selected Pilkington OptiView Protect OW anti-reflective glass for the street-level glazing.
Coatings on the outer faces of the laminated glass reduce its reflectivity to around 2%, compared with around 8% for standard, un-coated glass.
The result is that views into the shopfronts are almost entirely un-interrupted by reflections, even on bright days, ensuring that retailers’ window displays are shown off to the best effect.
To give further clarity, the glass is Optiwhite low-iron glass that is almost entirely free from colouration.
Adding to the aesthetic appeal of the glazing is the complex shape of the panes that make it up, including a large, curved edge at the top of the central pane in each shopfront.
Pilkington UK engineers worked closely with the carpenters to precision cut each pane of glass to ensure a perfect fit.
Peter Maj, business development manager at Pilkington United Kingdom said: “By selecting Pilkington OptiView for this project, the designers have demonstrated that it is the product of choice for retail applications where the glazing will be under the utmost scrutiny and needs to look its best.”
Along with the shop-fronts, Pilkington UK also supplied 300m2 of Pilkington Optiphon OW acoustic glass, which has been used throughout the offices and apartments on the upper five floors of the building to provide noise-reducing secondary glazing.
Image: Pilkington OptiView Protect OW anti-reflective glass was chosen for the street-level glazing at this Knightsbridge Gate development, Optiphon OW acoustic glass on the upper five floors.
