The glass towers

I am talking about the run of the mill condos that have the great views but the cheap floor to ceiling aluminum framed window wall, where the different rates of expansion and contraction between aluminum and glass will eat away at the seals, where the argon will leak out of the double glazing and get even worse thermally, and which are uncomfortable summer because of the hot sun and winter because of the heat loss through the glass and through the radiator fin balconies.

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Email Address Email is required. John Massengale wrote recently in New York about why all the builders love glass: Lloyd Alter talks about glass walls and radiator fin balconies, and why in fifteen or twenty years there may be a big bill to pay. Related Content on Treehugger.

Floor to ceiling glass is not green. Gimme A Thermal Break: Get Rid of Radiator Fin Balconies. We probably cannot afford to build everything to Passivhaus standards, but we have to do better than this. Can't get enough TreeHugger?

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Email Address Email is required. Another reason not to build glass towers: They are not resilient. Superstorm Sandy and the Alberta floods demonstrate the need to design buildings that keep the heat in or out when the power fails. Related Content on Treehugger. How New York City plans to survive the next storm.

Floor to ceiling glass is not green. Can cities be too dense? Can condos be too tall?

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