We made it! Celebrating the 20 year VS1 journey
by Franz Safford, CEO and Founder of Innovation Glass
Figure 1 ∙ The project that inspired the Vanderbilt System 1
The genesis of the VS1 system can be traced to the early hours of a morning in 2004, in the basement of a century-old side-hall colonial home in northern New Jersey. Decades of curiosity and discipline converged in that moment: childhood afternoons spent constructing intricate Lego creations, the challenge of building a Buckminster Fuller tensegrity sphere from wood dowels and wire, and the experience of crafting three-dimensional architectural models in high school. Academic achievement, including a degree in Architectural Engineering from CU Boulder (Class of ’81), laid a solid foundation in structural principles. Years of professional growth followed: mastering the complexities of aluminum, steel, and glass as structural materials, and pioneering innovative technology during a 17-year tenure at ASI Advanced Structures Inc., an enterprise inspired by the completion of the Louvre Pyramid in 1989. These diverse experiences converged that morning, leading to the creation of the VS1 kit-of-parts — a bold new standard in structural innovation. This year, we are celebrating 20 years since that idea first became a reality.
The Kit-of-Parts
Starting from scratch in 2004 by asking ‘what does a modern curtain wall want to be?’, the response was VS1. It embraces key fundamentals:
Simplicity – reduction of parts | vertical framing only eliminating horizontals
Performance – large clear spans | now at 65ft and still going higher!
Sustainability – excellent thermal performance
Value – cost effective
Creativity – able to achieve complex geometries and visual customization
Being fascinated by the ability of one of the greatest kit-of-parts ever, Lego, to achieve extraordinary variation in output with the same number of components, the question was asked… “Can we create a curtain wall system that facilitates the same results?” We can say with enthusiasm after our 20 year journey with VS1 that the answer is a resounding yes!
Figure 2 • The VS1 Kit-of-Parts, Deconstructed
All our VS1 facades are comprised of versions of the three basic components:
Mullion to span the wall height
Wind fitting to transfer the lateral glass loads to the mullions
Gravity fitting to support the glass self-weight
The system’s namesake was inspired by the Eskind Memorial Library project at Vanderbilt University (Figure 1). It was recognized that three distinct wall types occurred on that project: small span (12’ System 1), medium span (18’ System 2), and long span (50’ System 3). Standardizing the components as systems subsequent to the Eskind Library project remained elusive to ASI because of the company’s custom solution nature. Deliberately focusing on a system approach at the foundation of Innovation Glass, we began our journey with a reference to the small span System 1. It is notable after 20 years the VS1 system far exceeds the spanning capacity of the initial “System 3”.
System Attributes
Much of what VS1 brings to the table is captured in this word cloud, but the possibilities are truly limitless.
Figure 3 ∙ Signature Attributes of the VS1 Technology. More→
The most prominent use of the system is for long span curtain wall applications. Now engineered to span to 65ft clear, without intermediate secondary support, long-span VS1 facades have broken many world spanning records for un-reinforced aluminum curtain walls starting with a 42ft (12.8m) clear span VS1 glass wall for Adobe Corp. in Utah in 2009 (Figure 4).
Figure 4 ∙ Adobe Utah Campus. Project Gallery→
Implementation
These long spans are the result of an incremental approach, scaling the mullion year after year as confidence was built at Innovation Glass with each project. See Fig. 3 to view the progression from our first mullion section of 2 ½” x 5” to sections over 18” deep.
Figure 5 • Progression of VS1 mullion library. Full Library→
Handling a mullion length of 50ft+ (15.2m) weighing 1,300 lbs (590 kg) is a challenge when considering the A-to-Z process: extruding, fabrication, finishing and installation. Having refined that process puts iG in a unique position to provide consistent dependable service to the marketplace for long span curtain walls at excellent value.
The IG/VS1 team
We have also built an extraordinary team at Innovation Glass over the past 20 years and pioneered a management strategy of giving the project manager total control of their projects from design, drawing, engineering, material procurement, fabrication and technical support. By compressing staffing layers, the responsiveness to our client’s needs and knowledge of the project details by the lead project managers is unprecedented in the industry. This has resulted in a revenue/employee ratio that puts Innovation Glass at the top tier of excellent companies in the United States.
A personal note of thanks to each of our team members. You are my heroes.
Embracing our vision of globalization by bringing technology directly to the markets where it will be used, we built organizations in Asia (Bangalore, India HQ) and Europe (Austria, HQ) to deliver VS1 through local production, reducing our carbon footprint while best serve our customers. We seamlessly follow our clients across the globe as needed.
Our aspirational motto has carried us forward these 20 years. The sails are up to catch the wind into the future. Onwards!
Strive for perfection in everything
Take the best that exists & make it better
If it does not exists, create it.
Accept nothing nearly right or good enough
Lastly, I express my gratitude to our clients who continue to entrust us with their business, and the design community with whom we have collaborated in the pursuit of excellent architecture.
Thank you.
With excitement of what comes next,
Your partner in innovation,
Franz Safford +
Abdul Kadir
Abdul Waheed
Abhilash Paital
Abhishek Kumar
Adesh Tonde
Akhilesh Kumar
Aravind
Awadesh Kumar
Bhavana Balachandran
Chandrakanta Mangaraj
Cheluvarju H
Christina Burns
Cindy O'Connor
Debasish Mohanty
Deepak Kharat
Dibyajyoti Sahoo
Dough Urich
Emily Davis
Erik Batcher
Ganesh Jaysingh Dhotre
Geetha M N
Helmut Forstner
Himatej Reddy
Huda Asadulla
Hussain Alawami
Jagannath Mandal
Joel Kaskela
Jonathan Harrison
Julian Safford
Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo
Karan Dhotre
Kavya K
Keerthikumari
Kurt Schmidlein
Mitchell Vanduzer
Nasir Khan
Nicholas Torres
Nilu Mohan Sahoo
Nitinnischal
Pritiranjan
Rajendra Chaurasiya
Roger Beesley
Sangram Sahoo
Sanjeev Roy
Sarvajeet Yadav
Shaheen Begum
Shahid Afridi
Shuja Burney
Soumendra Kumar Pradhan
Steven Sletten
Tousif Ahmed
Venkateswara Rao Thotakura
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FRanz Safford, FACADE ENGINEER
CEO OF INNOVATION GLASS
Franz is an expert in all aspects of curtain wall construction process, from initial conception/design development, engineering, material selection, fabrication, project management and installation. He follows a process that strives for simplicity in the design solution, embracing a philosophy of integrating components to achieve a higher level of efficiency for the end-product. Read Full Bio →
Read More
Explore recent posts below to learn more about Innovation Glass and the VS1 technology.
