TriSeal™ protects priceless manuscripts in ambitious Qatar National Library building

Edgetech’s world-renowned Super Spacer has played a crucial role in the construction of one of the Middle East’s most spectacular new buildings.

The celebrated product was used to deliver the stunning 5,500 square-meter glass façade of the Qatar National Library.

The 42,000 square meter structure is home to over a million books, and 500,000 digital editions. The library’s most valuable volumes are kept in a six-meter deep, glass-ceilinged room reminiscent of an excavated labyrinth.

Its diamond-shaped façade area has been designed to filter out the glaring Middle Eastern sun, while still letting in enough light to illuminate the library interior.

The façade has been designed without any metallic elements, ensuring there are no thermal bridges to conduct heat into the building – a crucial consideration, since not only does Qatar routinely experience summer temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, it’s unfortunately a part of the world that’s being severely affected by global warming.

Its double-glazed IGUs are curved, ensuring that the façade is both self-supporting, and exceptionally resistant to wind and other strong weather.

A low-e coating, and a solar control coating, filter and reflect sunlight, and a grey grid of 3mm metallic dots, with a precise 6mm spacing, was burnt into them in order to reduce radiation transmission even further.

The need for both exceptional thermal performance and a product that was compatible with the building’s curved IGUs made Super Spacer^® TriSeal™ Flex an obvious choice, as Edgetech Managing Director Chris Alderson explains.

“In places like Qatar, the constant fluctuations between incredible heat in the day and much cooler evenings exerts considerable pressure on the edge seal. Super Spacer’s structural foam is able to absorb that pumping motion, allowing IGUs to withstand the pressure.

“This is one reason that Super Spacer has been specified in some of the world’s most iconic, architecturally ambitious buildings – and we’re delighted to see it used to such stunning effect in Qatar’s National Library.”

Edgetech’s Super Spacer^® flexible foam-based spacer systems act as energy-efficient warm edge spacers in insulating glass windows. They significantly reduce energy loss to the outside, largely prevent condensation and also contribute to the lifetime of a window. On average, worldwide, more than 300 million metres are sold annually in over 90 countries.

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