Glasstec 2008 Shaping Up as One Stop Shop for New Technology

Glasstec 2008 Shaping Up as One Stop Shop for New Technology glasstec 2008, which will take place in Dusseldorf, Germany, October 21-25, looks to be bigger than ever. More than 1,000 exhibitors have reserved more than 705,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Two of the key themes at glasstec 2008 will be photovoltaics and solar thermal systems. The "Solar and Laser Center" in Hall 11 will display innovations such as novel thin-film modules with films measuring a few thousandths of a millimeter. The solar theme will also be the central topic on two of the five conference days of the Technical Symposium which will accompany the "glass technology live" special show.

Other segments of the glass industry will focus just as much on innovations. Firms representing the glass industry and glass production will showcase such new developments as anti-microbial glass that kills up to 99.9 percent of bacteria making it suitable for applications in both hospitals and nursing homes.

The special show "glass technology live" in Hall 11 will also have glass and energy as the main topic. The organizer Professor Stephan Behling and his Institute of Building Construction at Stuttgart University have developed a presentation that will cover both today's resource-saving measures and a preview of tomorrow's technologies. The Innovationpark will feature four segments: light and transparency, photovoltaics, solar thermal systems and heat and solar protection. Current international architecture projects and glass applications will demonstrate the implementation and integration of the latest technologies in insulating glass, windows and façades and will provide information on the construction of energy-efficient and integrative building covers along with relevant manufacturing and production processes.

The accompanying symposium will address issues such as glass for energy-saving and generating applications and glass architecture. Projects of international acclaim such as the New York Times Building, designed by Renzo Piano, or the Elbphilharmonie, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, provide compelling evidence of the sensational and versatile applications possible with glass as a construction material.

The motto of the Architects' Congress on October 24 will be "Transparency! Glass and Façade Technology." The North Rhine-Westphalian Chamber of Architects and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands are organizing it.

At the congress, architects, structural engineers, HVAC engineers and façade planners--including Lise Ann Couture (Asymptote Architecture, New York), Chris Wilkinson (Wilkinson Eyre architects, London), Professor Stephan Behling (Foster and Partners, London, Institute for Building Construction at Stuttgart University), Thomas Auer (Transsolar, Klimaengineering, Stuttgart), Professor Dr.-Ing. Holger Techen (University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt am Main), Prof. Dr. Ulrich Knaack, TU Delft and Andrea Compagno (Façade Planning and Consulting, Zürich)--will use their practical experience to present ideas and possible applications for glass and façade technology. Reflections on the glass technology of tomorrow will be presented at the congress by Professor Bernhard Weller of the Institute of Building Construction at the Technical University of Dresden. The cost for participating in the Architects' Congress is 49 euros.

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