Crystal Windows Offer View of Sustainable Urban Design

Crystal Series 8200 aluminum awning windows were part of a recent prefabricated affordable modular home exhibit at Design Philadelphia.

Crystal Window & Door Systems recently participated in Design Philadelphia, an annual two-week celebration of global architectural design and urban planning in the heart of the city. The event includes exhibits, studio tours, lectures and other public events covering everything from furniture and textiles for interior design to modular and prefabricated home design. This year the theme centered on sustainable, environmentally savvy design, with emphasis on affordability.

Invited to participate along with one of its premier customers, Philadelphia-based installation firm Emerald Windows, the challenge for Crystal was to provide fenestration for a demonstration modular home created from metal cargo containers. Crystal donated its Series 8200 aluminum awning windows to the "temporary neighborhood" outdoor exhibition A Clean Break, looking at how affordable, environmentally low-impact, prefabricated structures can be integrated with global urban environments. A Clean Break was curated by Minima Gallery with partners including Habitat For Humanity and the Urban Land Institute of Philadelphia.

"With a rapidly urbanizing world, emerging countries and even developed ones may benefit from exhibits of low-cost, low-impact scalable temporary housing such as this," said Steve Chen, executive vice president of Crystal Windows. "The organizers of Design Philadelphia were seeking companies whose products and services reflect the focus of the exhibition - good design, good quality, affordable, modern and very green. Our top grade aluminum window product line definitely fits the bill, and we were excited to be part of this trend setting global design concept event."

The Crystal Series 8200 aluminum window offers a heavy-commercial AAMA rating, a 2-¼-inch deep thermally-broken frame and 1-inch insulating glass for superior energy efficiency. The narrow frame awning window affords maximum glass viewing area and superior ventilation capability. The window is well suited for a wide variety of building applications.

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