The Palazzo Ducale was built by Duke Petracone V Caracciolo on the remains of an ancient noble castle. Inspired by Roman palaces the design was approved by Bernini. The baroque façade, in the marvellous local limestone, introduces frescoed and decorated environments of incredible and brazen beauty.
The client's need was to make the rooms on the mezzanine floor more energy efficient by acting only on the glass component. The Superintendency requested to preserve the historic windows and doors and minimize the aesthetic impact of the intervention.
The choice fell on Pilkington Spacia™ STII vacuum insulated glass. The 6.2 mm thick glass guarantees thermal insulation usually achieved with over 20 mm thick standard insulating glass unit. The grid of transparent micro spacers helps avoid the deflection of the sheets subject to the pressure changes of the unit chamber. These are almost invisible, as is the protective cap at the corner of the glass, through which the air is extracted to create the vacuum.
In an environment of great historical and artistic importance, Pilkington Spacia™ vacuum insulated glass offers minimal thickness and cutting-edge technology in one product, with thermal insulation and high transparency expected from glass.