Carpe Futurum is Latin for Seize the future – it is also the name of Sweden’s latest biopower plant in Uppsala – and Pilkington Profilit™ is helping this spectacular, climate smart, sustainable project achieve its renewable agenda.

Representing one of the largest Pilkington Profilit™ structure built to date, Carpe Futurum is using renewable fuels comprising different kinds of wood-based biomass, such as recycled wood, bark, wood chips, and sawdust to supply 110 MW of heat to the local district’s heating network.

The structure, designed by Liljewall Architects, required a durable glass that would fit perfectly into the world of the pro-ecological Carpe Futurum project. It also needed to meet the sympathetic needs of a modern construction visible from afar on Uppsala's skyline and blend harmoniously with other city landmarks, such as its castle, cathedral and water tower.

The Pilkington Profilit™ self-supporting U-shaped system and channel glass, installed in a steel construction, provided the perfect façade solution – offering all the elements needed for practicalities, and creativity.

Its ceramic colour system, supplied by Pilkington Bauglasindustrie, enables a smooth, high-quality appearance that provides excellent weather and time resistance as well as allowing harmonious, creative and symbolic designs. Patterns of transparent and orange-painted channel glass, tapering as they rise, represent the process of water evaporation (the basis of electricity generation – as the water vapor cools, the extra heat is transferred through the district heating network to homes and businesses).

The façade’s vertical double-glazed structure utilises low iron, thermally toughened, heat-soaked Pilkington Profilit™ OW THS K25/60/7, and low iron, thermally toughened, heat-soaked channel glass with ceramic colour coating Pilkington Profilit™ OW Colour Design THS K25/60/7. The use of low iron glass ensures a true colour reproduction on back-painted glass channels. The glazing can be installed vertically or horizontally without separate profiles between the glass channels, which ensure unobstructed and shadowless light transmission. The circa 4,800 square-meters façade comprises 11 glazing bands with a glass length of 2,894 mm each that are installed in thermally broken powder coated framing components.

The wide range of high-quality surface and colour channel glass finishes has allowed freedom of design and unique glass assemblies and the Uppsala biopower plant is an excellent example of how creative glass solutions can be created with the use of channel glass.

The installation of the glazing at the site's turbine building, and for the conveyor bridge, was made by Vitrea Oy, the Pilkington Profilit™ partner from Finland.