"timber doors"

This new 120,000 square foot, state-of-the-art convening center features a 1,000-seat auditorium that is large enough to host the entire MBA class. The glass atrium floods the multi-purpose lobby with natural light, as well as provides a visual connection between the interior of the building and the outdoor environment. To maximize transparency, SAFTI FIRST® met with the architects during the design phase to create a large, 2-hour, glass wall that separates the lobby from the auditorium while providing a visual connection between them. Since this 2-hour glass wall also serves as the entrance to the auditorium, deciding on a 90-minute door system was of upmost important. SAFTI FIRST®’s in-house engineering department provided design assistance, system details, engineering calculations and support from the planning phase all the way to the submittal process.

The newly opened Exploratorium has brought energy and excitement to the city's bustling waterfront. EHDD transformed the historic Pier 15, built in 1915, to a 330,000 square foot indoor and outdoor campus, being touted as the largest net-zero building in the city and potentially the largest net-zero museum in the world. SAFTI FIRST® supplied a total of 19 pairs of 45-minute steel doors 11 pairs on north side and 8 pairs on the south side using SuperLite® II-XL 45 IGU in GPX® Builders Series Fire Protective.

SuperLite® II-XLM 120 clear butt-glazed walls with 9 ft. GPX® Builders Series 90 minute Temperature Rise doors creates a light-filled, transparent 2-hour stairwell that is on-brand with Waste Management’s new Houston Headquarters.

Adaptive reuse, or the process of taking an old building or structure and repurposing it for something other than what it was originally designed for, has gained a lot traction with developers and architects alike – and for many good reasons. For one thing, it is more economical and sustainable to work with an existing structure than to demolish an old building, clean up the site, and rebuild with entirely new materials. It also helps preserve historical structures that add character to the community, as well as reduce urban sprawl. For the multifamily sector, we’ve seen adaptive reuse applied to old schools, government buildings, warehouses, etc. because these structures are usually centrally located in many downtown areas.

The Merced 2020 Project, an ambitious, $1.2B, extensive expansion of the UC Merced campus, is “the largest public-private partnership social infrastructure project completed in U.S. history,” according to the university’s website. This includes new facilities used for academic, administration, laboratories, housing and recreation. This was truly exciting, and it struck a chord with SAFTI FIRST® because Merced is home to our manufacturing facilities.

Who hasn’t uttered the words or at least heard of a “Target run”? What started out as a marketing campaign to get more foot traffic in their brick and mortar stores has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Aside from being a call-to-action, #TargetRun is a trending hashtag used by shoppers to share their in-store shopping experience on social media.

The Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Chicago features an incredible, 4-story mural by local artist Eulojio Ortega. The mural, brilliant for conveying the story as visitors go from floor to floor, is interestingly located in an exit stairwell. Traditionally, stairwells are enclosed in opaque walls, leaving them dark, isolated, and rarely utilized unless in an emergency. To allow the mural to be visible through multiple floors, encourage stair usage and meet fire rated code requirements, the architects redesigned the 2- hour stairwell using transparent, floor-to-ceiling butt-glazed glass walls with the largest tested and listed fire resistive glass panels available.

The design limitations of fire rated ceramic glass have finally given way to a revolutionary new product like SuperClear® 45-HS-LI, a truly clear 45 minute fire rated glass that meets all fire, safety and hose stream requirements at a fraction of the price of ceramics. See how the design team at EYP used SuperClear® 45-HS-LI to their advantage at the 1,197-bed Quad on the University of Houston campus.

Mountain Brook, AL

As America celebrated National Bourbon Day on June 14, downtown Louisville also celebrated the highly anticipated grand opening of the Old Forester Distillery. This event is also touted as a triumphant return of America’s first bottled bourbon in continuous production by the same family before, during, and after Prohibition to Whiskey Row. See how SAFTI FIRST®’s fire rated glass walls helped create an immersive visitor center with a fully operational distillery, cooperage and bottling line.

Ratcliff was chosen as the architect to design the new three-story, 60,000 square foot San Jose Downtown Health Center that includes urgent care for adults and children, primary care for pediatric, OB/GYN and family medicine, behavioral health services, laboratory, pharmacy and radiology departments. Their design takes advantage of glazing’s ability to draw natural light from the outdoors to create a warm, pleasing atmosphere that promotes healing. Part of the hospital’s exterior curtain wall had to be fire rated for one hour and meet seismic requirements per SB 1953 as well.

As far as extreme environments go, Wisconsin has some of the most dramatic in North America. During the winter months, temperatures regularly dip well below freezing, and in the summer months the temperatures can reach up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit with significant humidity levels for extended periods of time. Given these dramatic weather conditions, the materials chosen for the building envelope should not only protect building occupants from the elements, but ensure their comfort as well.

The Salt Lake City Public Safety Building in Utah is the first U.S. Public Safety Building to achieve both a net-zero rating and LEED Platinum status and designed to survive a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and remain fully functional afterwards. This ensures that the city’s emergency operations center can survive and help the city recover in the event of an earthquake or a similar disaster. Fire rated glass contributes to achieving sustainable design goals by maximizing daylight penetration deep within a building and shared artificial lighting between spaces. It also ensures that occupants can exit the building safely in the event of an earthquake, which can damage sprinkler systems and render them ineffective.

When the Cincinnati Art Museum embarked on an $11 million renovation, the architects wanted the entrance and main stair to be as inviting as possible. Transparent, fire rated glazing from SAFTI FIRST® was a key component of the design solution. To maximize the vision area in door itself, SuperLite® II-XL 60 in GPX® Builders Series Temperature Rise full-lite doors. In some of the stairwell doors in less prominent locations, SAFTI FIRST® provided SuperLite® X-90 for the vision panels under 100 sq. inches.

The David Eccles School of Business on the University of Utah campus features a 28- x 18-ft 2 hour interior glass wall with a 90 minute full-vision door in an exit enclosure/stairwell. The architects selected fire rated glass to meet fire rating requirements while providing maximum visibility and natural daylighting in the space. The project’s specifications also required the fire rated glass to have the same optical clarity as the adjacent non-rated glass systems.

The new San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Headquarters combines maximum daylighting and fire safety with a multi-story, fire rated glass stairwell from SAFTI FIRST. Dubbed as the "greenest building in North America," this Class A LEED Platinum office building features a transparent, 2-hour fire rated stairwell, situated prominently near the main entrance. SAFTI FIRST supplied SuperLite II-XL 120 in GPX Architectural Series Wall Framing and SuperLite II-XL 90 in GPX Builders Series Temperature Rise Door starting from the lobby all the way to the topmost floor.

According to certain “studies,” wood claims a smaller environmental footprint than any other major building material. However, a closer look at the facts reveals some significant inconsistencies with that claim. MYTH: Studies demonstrate that wood is a more sustainable material than steel. REALITY: The most-cited study contained numerous incorrect assumptions about steel, and it omitted wood impacts. • A study cited often by the wood industry was published by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) and is based on outdated information. For example, it made incorrect assumptions about the quantity of steel needed for its comparisons. • Wood is typically a single-use material. At the end of its life, a building’s wood frame is typically landfilled or incinerated. This returns any stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere as either carbon dioxide or methane, shifting greenhouse gas burdens to future generations. • In comparison, steel is the world’s most recycled material. Steel construction products have a recycling rate of more than 90 percent, meaning that at the end of a steel building’s life, more than 90 percent of its steel is recycled into another steel product, using significantly less energy than was necessary to create the original product. A material that can be recycled continually over centuries with no loss in quality and that lowers the burden on future generations is the very definition of sustainability! MYTH: Wood is more sustainable than steel because it is a renewable building resource. REALITY: Being renewable is not the same as being sustainable. • The wood industry claims that for every tree cut down, one or more new trees are planted. However, the claim does not take into account that it will take decades before those saplings mature. In the meantime, the forest is depleted of the oxygen, water storage and filtration, wildlife habitat, global cooling, and other benefits provided by the mature tree. 1 • Trees are often harvested by clear-cutting, leaving large gaps in the forestland that also impact the plants and animal species left behind. MYTH: Wood is more sustainable than steel because wood construction products store carbon. REALITY: Carbon storage for construction products is temporary, only shifting impacts to future generations. • Carbon is sequestered in the fiber of trees, but that does not mean that wood buildings become large reservoirs of carbon that is stored indefinitely. Upon harvesting, the unused root and leaf systems immediately return their CO to the atmosphere by decay. For wood products, the reality is that carbon storage is also temporary and it is released back into the atmosphere at the end of the wood building’s life either by the demolition and subsequent decay of the wood or by incineration. • Ann Ingerson of The Wilderness Society states: “As a result of wood waste and decomposition, the carbon stored long-term in harvested wood products may be a small proportion of that originally stored in the standing trees―across the United States, approximately 1 percent may remain in products in use and 13 percent in landfills at 100 years post-harvest.” 2 2 Photo courtesy of the American Institute of Steel Construction Photo courtesy of SCS Global Services MYTH: All wood construction products are certified as being sustainably harvested. REALITY: The majority of forests in the U.S. do not meet the wood industry’s own sustainable harvesting standards. • Eighty-one percent of forests in the United States are not certified, 11 percent are Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®)-certified, and seven percent are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®)-certified.3 The sustainable harvest certification provided by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative has often been challenged as to whether it reaches the required threshold of sustainable forestry. SFI was created in 1994 by the paper and timber industry. A report on SFI by ForestEthics concludes in part: - “SFI is funded, promoted and staffed by the very paper and timber industry interests it claims to evaluate.”4 - “Of SFI’s 543 audits, up to the time of the report’s issuance, there were no major noncompliance issues related to soil erosion, clear-cut procedures, watershed issues, or chemical usage.”5 - “SFI-certified logging practices are having a disastrous impact on North American forests.”6 • In actuality, only seven percent of the forestland in the United States reaches the threshold of being considered sustainably managed. References 1 “Understanding Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for Wood (Current Problems and Future Possibilities),” The Sierra Club Forest Certification and Green Building Team, September 24, 2013. 2 Ingerson, Ann, “Carbon Storage Potential of Harvested Wood: Summary and Policy Implications,” The Wilderness Society, October 23, 2010, p. 1. 3 “Forest Certification Around the World: Georgia-Pacific, Sustainable Forestry and Certification,” Georgia-Pacific, 2014. 4 “SFI: Certified Greenwash – Inside the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Deceptive Eco-Label,” a report by ForestEthics, November 2010, p. 2. 5 “SFI: Certified Greenwash – Inside the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Deceptive Eco-Label,” a report by ForestEthics, November 2010, p. 9. 6 “SFI: Certified Greenwash – Inside the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Deceptive Eco-Label,” a report by ForestEthics, November 2010, p. 11.

IntroductionSheet Steel Roong and SidingLightweight Steel FramingIsolate the Steel and Wood ComponentsAvoid Use of Pressure Treated WoodFastenersMany buildings will include wood members in applicationssuch as sill plates, splash boards, strapping, purlins, door orwindow bucks, and posts. In some of these end-uses it is arequirement that the wood be chemically treated (pressuretreated) to extend the service life.Designers and builders need to be aware that changes in theavailable wood perservatives may impact the durability ofany connected steel components or fasteners.Eective January 1, 2004 the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) banned the use of Chromated CopperArsenate (CCA) as a preservative in treated lumber forresidential construction. This was done in an eort to reducethe use of chromate and arsenic thereby mitigating thepotential health and environmental problems. The woodpreservative industry has been switching to alternativewaterborne compounds including Sodium Borate (SBX),Alkaline Copper Quat (ACQ), Copper Azole (CBA-A and CA-B),and Ammoniacal Copper Zinc Arsenate (ACZA).Unfortunately, research has indicated that ACQ, CBA-A, CA-Band ACZA, the new generation copper-based products, aremore corrosive to galvanized steel than the former CCA.Since ACQ is becoming the predominant preservative in use,the discussions in this paper will refer to it exclusively.The purpose of this Fact Sheet is to convey the recommendations of the sheet steel industry for the application of steelproducts with ACQ pressure treated wood.

1.  About the ProjectOne of the most prestigious national pavilions at Expo 2020 Dubai, The German Pavilion, represented the Federal Republic of Germany's commitment to innovation and sustainability. Designed by renowned Berlin-based LAVA Architects, this 4,600 m² architectural showcase demonstrated Germany's leadership in environmental technology and intelligent building solutions through its unique "forest of steel poles" design.Project Specifications:Location: World Expo 2020 Dubai, UAEBuilding Owner: German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and EnergyArchitect: LAVA Architects, BerlinFacade Contractor: Future Glazing LLC, UAEMain Contractor: ARGE Deutscher Pavilion EXPO 2020 Dubai GbRInstallation Date: June 2021Exhibition Period: 6 months with over 3 million international visitorsTotal Pavilion Area: 4,600 m²FutureX Eclipse™ Intelligent Glazing Area: 113 m²2. The ChallengeFuture Glass was tasked with creating intelligent facade elements that would perform flawlessly in Dubai's extreme desert climate while maintaining perfect environmental control for millions of international visitors. The architects required a building envelope that could respond instantly to rapidly changing conditions including sandstorms, intense solar radiation, and temperatures exceeding 45°C.The project demanded breakthrough glazing technology that could eliminate mechanical shading systems while providing instant environmental adaptation. The design called for individual glass panels to operate independently whilst maintaining overall design coherence across the pavilion's complex geometry. Additionally, the system needed to be maintenance-free, withstand sandstorm conditions, and deliver consistent performance throughout the six-month exhibition period without any mechanical intervention.Given the prestigious nature of this international exhibition space, any failure or performance degradation would have significant reputational impact, making reliability and consistent operation absolutely critical.3. The OutcomeThe FutureX Eclipse™ installation delivered exceptional environmental control, enabling Campus Germany to maintain perfect occupant comfort for international visitors while showcasing German innovation in intelligent building technology. The electropolarization system responded instantly to Dubai's challenging environmental conditions, providing seamless transitions between maximum transparency and sophisticated solar protection in one second or less.The installation demonstrated zero mechanical shading requirements across the entire facade system, with individual 1.5-meter wide rotatable glass elements operating flawlessly throughout the exhibition period. The success of this project established new benchmarks for intelligent glazing performance in extreme climatic conditions and proved that breakthrough electropolarization technology could transform architectural vision into responsive, high-performance building envelopes.The pavilion's environmental control system impressed over 3 million visitors and received international recognition for its innovative integration of intelligent building technology with sophisticated architectural design.4. Products UsedFutureX Eclipse™ Electropolarization Switchable Glass System:Surface Area: 113 m² of intelligent glazing elementsQuantity: 61 individual switching unitsGeometry: Rectangular configurations with rotational capabilityConfiguration: 28 fixed glass panels, 4 standard doors, and 29 intelligent folding door elementsSwitching Speed: ≤1 second response timePerformance: Neutral colour throughout all switching statesTechnology: Eclipse® electropolarization switching layer with controlled electrical field modulationControl System: Individual panel control with building automation integrationEnvironmental Rating: Designed for extreme desert climate operation including sandstorm resistance