ChannelGlass(U-Glass)

Born as a low-cost solution for industrial buildings and railway stations, U-Glass has been rediscovered by avant-garde architecture. It is the only glazing system that behaves structurally like a steel section, allowing continuous, curved light walls without visual interruptions.

U-Glass is a cast and rolled glass. Molten glass passes through forming rollers that bend the edges, creating the typical channel shape (flanges). This dramatically increases the moment of inertia. A flat 7 mm pane would flex dangerously under wind; the same pane bent into a U acquires sufficient rigidity to span vertical openings of over 6 metres, anchoring only in two containment C-profiles at floor and ceiling, eliminating vertical metal mullions.

During rolling, the rollers imprint a texture (‘figured’) on the outer surface. This makes the glass translucent, but not transparent: it transmits natural light while guaranteeing complete privacy. For winter thermal insulation, U-Glass walls are almost always installed double-layer with interlocking flanges. The resulting air gap acts as an insulating cavity and can be filled with translucent insulating materials (aerogel or capillary polycarbonate) to achieve Ug values comparable to a brick wall.