The large glass that covers the €1 billion R&D Centre

They say little has been spared in the construction of AstraZeneca’s new Discovery Centre in Cambridge (UK). It will be one of the three largest research centres of the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company. Its grand opening was presided over by Prince Charles, accompanied by AstraZeneca’s executive director, Pascal Soriot, and its president, Leif Johansson. The Swiss architects Herzog & De Meuron have come up with a breath-taking design.

Tvitec oversized glass

Of course, this is in line with the £1.1 billion total investment. The building is covered with a gigantic glass structure, with eye-catching saw teeth of almost 7 meters each covering the 16 laboratories in which more than 2,200 scientists will work. But where have these spectacular pieces of glazing been manufactured so that the aesthetic results also benefit from the insulation, energy-saving, and safety sought by its backers?

The answer, of course, is one of the world’s leading specialists in large-scale jumbo glass manufacturing: Tvitec. Tvitec manufactured each and every one of the nearly 300 triple glazing laminate units surrounding the Discovery Centre, the UK’s largest scientific laboratory.

Tvitec triple glazing for a great ecoefficiency

The triple glazing, which includes smart solar control layers of AGC Ipasol Shine and Iplus Top, along with Guardian extraclear, allows natural light to bathe the entire building organically.  It’s part of the eco-efficiency and sustainability concept of a project in which heat is collected from the ground and its toilets are flushed with rainwater.

Tvitec’s technology for processing insulating glass was combined with the expertise of its professionals to achieve maximum precision in the triangular shapes of many of the zig-zag pieces designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The main body of the AstraZeneca campus sits on six rectangular glass boxes grouped into three pairs. The result is an open courtyard formation, which references the historic universities of Cambridge and provides a central campus meeting point.

Yet Tvitec’s production goes far beyond jumbo glass units. In the Cubillos factory, more than 20,000 meters of high-performance glass was manufactured for façade specialists Scheldebouw. We’re talking about almost 5,000 pieces of glass from the ‘Made in Spain’ Tvitec brand.

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