Nine hundred panels with gold-coloured and ultra-clear Guardian glass were used to create a stunning visual effect for France’s latest landmark building.

La Cité du Vin (pictured) is a cultural centre in Bordeaux, France, which allows visitors to learn about wine, its history and its influence on civilisation through a range of tours, exhibits and multimedia presentations.

An observation deck on the top of the 55 metre high tower offers a 360° view of the city and the surrounding vineyards.

The building itself was designed by Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières of XTU Architects, and makes a strong architectural statement thanks to its bold curves and overall shape which are intended to evoke wine’s liquid nature.

XTU Architects wanted to use the very best high-performance glass, because of its special role in reflecting light inside and out while mimicking effervescence.

The architects selected French cladding company Coveris to help find the right solution for this high visibility project.

They turned to Guardian Glass in Europe, a leading manufacturer of high-performance architectural glass.

“Choosing the glass was a long process,” says Coveris.

“It was vital to select the right products that were best suited, both technically and aesthetically.

“We had to prove the feasibility of many aspects, from the choice of coating to ensuring that the glass could be distorted or curved outwards. Throughout this process there was a very good cooperation with Guardian and the architects.”

Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières from XTU Architects agree: “The design brief required us to find glass with gold reflections.

“We examined various types of glass, and then we carried out screen printing tests.

“The Guardian glass delivered the best results and the most modern aspect.”

The two types of glass selected were Guardian SunGuard Solar Gold 20, and Guardian UltraClear.

SunGuard Solar Gold 20 is the preferred choice of many architects and designers.

Its gold-coloured coating is applied to Guardian ExtraClear float glass.

This has advantages when compared to body tinted glass: not only does it offer high performance solar control, but also thanks to a good colour rendering index the colours that can be seen from the inside to the outside of the building are very close to what they are in reality.

Compared to traditional glass, Guardian UltraClear low-iron glass offers high light transmission and greater colour neutrality, letting ‘true’ daylight in to provide an enhanced feeling of space and light.

For the building’s main tower, glass was used to create a separate skin, which envelops the structure, while maximising its aesthetics.

In total, around 900 individual glass panels were used, some being screen printed with 20 different patterns.

All panels are different, with maximum sizes of 5.1m x 1.5m.

There are three types of panels: monolithic, laminated and triple laminated.

The latter type with SunGuard Solar Gold 20 coating applied.

The final glass skin covers 2,700 square metres.

The screen printing involved 20 different patterns, each applied individually onto the panels.

For more information about this project visit www.laciteduvin.com.

Guardian Glass is exhibiting in hall 10/stand A28 at glasstec (20-23 September 2016) in Düsseldorf, Germany.