PPG Industries has launched the PPG Glass Education Center, a comprehensive website to help architects, specifiers, students and construction industry professionals learn more about designing, specifying and building with glass.
Divided into three sections – Glass Topics, Glass FAQs (frequently asked questions) and Glossary – the PPG Glass Education Center features a compelling mix of videos, colorful illustrations and educational features that address issues such as preventing thermal glass breakage, specifying large insulating glass units (IGUs), how low-emissivity (low-e) glass works, how heat-treated glass differs from heat-strengthened glass, and why it all matters for commercial building projects.
Glenn T. Miner, PPG director of construction, flat glass, said the PPG Glass Education Center was created to address a growing demand, especially among young architects and students, for more accessible, interactive and engaging technical information about designing and building with glass.
“As a building material, glass is more popular than ever, not just because it looks good but because it can help buildings operate more efficiently and make people feel better about their living and work environments,” Miner explained. “As commercial glass products become more sophisticated, glass manufacturers have an obligation to deliver technical information to architects and other building professionals in a way that helps them meet the increasingly difficult demands made of them.”
The PPG Glass Education Center is not designed as a promotional or marketing tool. “When visitors log onto the PPG Glass Education Center, they will find very little to no information about our products specifically,” Miner added. “Our primary goal is to offer an objective, user-focused resource that enhances the safety, attractiveness and energy-efficiency of buildings constructed with glass, whether they are skyscrapers erected with monumental curtain walls or small elementary schools with simple windows that open and close.”
The site’s existing content is based on the most frequently asked questions PPG fields on its website, during sales calls and through its call center, and new educational material will be added continually.
In addition to hosting five short videos (3 to 6 minutes each), the PPG Glass Education Center contains an extensive glossary of industry terms and nearly two dozen frequently asked questions covering low-e glass, glass safety issues and more. Six more videos will be added to the site before July, along with content driven by architects’ questions and input.
