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Glass Pavilion™ at the Toledo Museum of Art

The Project

Housing one of the world's finest international glass collections, the Glass Pavilion™ at the Toledo Museum of Art opened in 2006. The outside walls and many of the interior walls of the building were made using Pilkington Optiwhite™ low iron glass.

The Glass Pavilion™, the first American project by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and their Tokyo firm, SANAA, Ltd., uses 150,000 square feet of Pilkington Optiwhite™ low iron glass to outline the building's sleek perimeter.

The architects chose Pilkington Optiwhite™ because of its versatility and practically colorless properties. The glass center houses more than 5,000 pieces of glass from ancient to contemporary times, including the famous Libbey Glass Punch Bowl, donated by Edward Drummond Libbey, founder of Toledo Museum of Art in 1901 and one of the founding fathers of Libbey-Owens-Ford. The 15 feet tall structure is made of approximately 342 glass panels, ranging in both size and curvature. It has 76,000 square feet of above ground and basement space. The main level includes both the large glass collection and a glass blowing studio used by local artists and for classes.

  Project ReferenceUSA66
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Project Details
Surface Area
150,000
Opening Date
Sep 2006
Building Type
  • Public
  • Commercial
  • Museums and Cultural building
About the Architect/Installer
Architect
SANAA, Ltd
Benefit Led Categories
  • Special Applications