Schollglas, The Crystal

"The Crystal" is the aptly named headquarters building for Nykredit Bank in Copenhagen designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. The glass-skinned, faceted form touches down on the plaza at only three points, giving the impression that it floats. A double-walled façade gives the building transparency that also filters sunlight in visually interesting ways.

Schollglas provided glass for the double-skin façade: triple-pane, insulated vision glass just beyond the perimeter steel framing and single-pane, laminated safety glass as the outer skin. The latter's 2,000 panes are silk-screened with various dot-matrix patterns developed by the architects. During the day, the apparently random composition of laminated glass gives the building a varied, horizontal pattern; yet at night, the glass lets the diagonal steel structure show through, reinforcing the crystalline nature of the design.

"The Crystal" is the aptly named headquarters building for Nykredit Bank in Copenhagen designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. The glass-skinned, faceted form touches down on the plaza at only three points, giving the impression that it floats. A double-walled façade gives the building transparency that also filters sunlight in visually interesting ways.

Schollglas provided glass for the double-skin façade: triple-pane, insulated vision glass just beyond the perimeter steel framing and single-pane, laminated safety glass as the outer skin. The latter's 2,000 panes are silk-screened with various dot-matrix patterns developed by the architects. During the day, the apparently random composition of laminated glass gives the building a varied, horizontal pattern; yet at night, the glass lets the diagonal steel structure show through, reinforcing the crystalline nature of the design.