The Western Pearl joins the league of contemporary commercial buildings dotting the Hyderabad skyline. Yet, with its unique facade, it remains in a league of its own. Developed by Western Builders and glazed with Saint-Gobain's Planitherm and Planilaque (lacquered glass), it is designed to glow like a pearl in the night, and hence the name Western Pearl.
Western Pearl is located in the IT hub of Hyderabad's HITEC City Road. With a total area of 40,522 sq.ft. comprising 13 floors, it is designed by architects Uday Joshi Associates.
The project is glazed with SGG Planitherm, an advanced thermal insulation glass designed to reduce the need for heating/cooling, thus helping in considerable energy savings making the façade extremely eco-friendly. With excellent light transmission and low reflection, SGG Planitherm allows maximum light penetration and provides unmatchable clarity in vision. True to the project’s name, the glass enables crystal clear exteriors. The state-of-the-art product is manufactured by Magnetron Sputtering technology coating process in a plasma environment. The functional layer coated on the glass – silver, imparts the product with the property of low emissivity, a basic need for excellent thermal insulation and also imparts a sheen to the glass.
The glass composition which was used in Western Pearl was an Insulated Glazing Unit comprising of a 6mm clear glass + 12mm Air Gap + 6mm SGG Planitherm Pristine White. The clear glass was sand blasted so as to give a pearl like illumination in the night. During the nights, SGG Planitherm Pristine White s being a neutral shade glass with high visual light transmission of 75% allows interior illumination to reflect on the sand blasted clear glass making it appear like a pearl. Besides SGG Planitherm, the lacquered range of Saint-Gobain – SGG Planilaque – was used for white boards.
Indeed, the Western Pearl stands as a beacon light in the night sky of Hyderabad. It is also a shining example of what glass can do to elevate everyday architecture into shimmering pieces of art.
