Pittsburgh Glass Center

• Adaptive Reuse
• Gold
• Historic
• Interior Renovation
• LEED Certified
• Local Materials
• Low Emitting Materials
• Neighborhood/Community
• New Construction
• Recycled Materials
• Renovation
• Stormwater Mitigation
• Urban

The Pittsburgh Glass Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching, creating, and promoting glass art. The Center's new building includes state-of-the-art studios in hot glass, flameworking, and coldworking. A neighborhood revitalization project in Pittsburgh's historic Friendship area, the Center is housed in a building that has previously been home to a food cooperative, a mattress distributor, and an automobile showroom.

The design process included meetings and charrettes with all project stakeholders, including the general public.

A reflective roof system reduces both the building's internal heat loads and its contribution to the urban heat-island effect. The parking lot uses pervious limestone and is landscaped with indigenous plants; it doubles as an event courtyard and reduces heat buildup in summer months. Landscaping and surface treatments were selected to shade the parking lot and the building.

Alterations to the shell of the building were made to increase daylight and views and to maximize opportunities for natural ventilation. As a result, most occupied spaces do not require artificial lighting during daytime hours. Heat from the glassmaking equipment and exhaust air is recovered. Thermal mass inside the building moderates temperature swings.

The building includes a range of salvaged materials. All new construction materials were evaluated and specified for recycled content and local manufacturing and harvesting. Most of the wood used for the project is certified to have been harvested sustainably. Much of the building was left unfinished, reducing the initial and maintenance costs of the project, limiting the space's offgassing potential, and lending an industrial, creative feel to the building.
 

Owner & Occupancy
- Owned and occupied by Pittsburgh Glass Center, Corporation, nonprofit
- Typically occupied by 8 people, 40 hours per person per week; and 70 visitors per week, 28 hours per visitor per week