USA: Phillies fans get "unparalleled sight-lines" with one-side supported balustrades

One of the major drivers of the design was creating unparalleled sightlines throughout the ballpark.

The world-famous Phillies baseball team has a brand new home at Citizen’s Bank Park, a 43,500-seat ballpark designed by Philadelphia-based architects and engineers Ewing Cole, in association with HOK Sports.

The world-famous Phillies baseball team has a brand new home at Citizen’s Bank Park, a 43,500-seat ballpark designed by Philadelphia-based architects and engineers Ewing Cole, in association with HOK Sports.

Project principal Pradeep Patel said: "One of the major drivers of the design was creating unparalleled sightlines throughout the ballpark. The architecture, structural engineering and field geometry all contribute to an open yet intimate design with a clear view to the field from virtually anywhere. Continuing this concept inside the seating bowl required the design team to research several types of glass in place of traditional metal railings along the seating sections and walkways. We found the solution with one-side supported balustrades of laminated glass with SentryGlas® interlayer.

Exposed edges
"The structural ionoplast interlayer provided a laminated glass construction that could be left exposed along the edges and eliminated the need to ‘cap’ the edges of the glass – leaving the views totally uncluttered. The design team was concerned with the long-term effects of allowing a PVB laminate to be exposed to the weather in a horizontal application. However, testing showed that SentryGlas® ionoplast interlayer effectively seals the edges and will not allow water or ice infiltration to reduce the life expectancy of the balustrades. The structural interlayer was strong enough to resist the impact of flying balls as well as other code-required loads."

"Edge stability over the long haul"
John Shultz III, managing director of laminator Oldcastle Glass of Telford, PA said: SentryGlas® provided the necessary edge stability required for an outdoor, exposed edge, decorative application. This, combined with its superior rigidity, its clarity and its long-life durability made it the ideal choice of laminated glass interlayer. Only SentryGlas® can show this sort of edge stability over the long haul in an open air stadium environment." The balustrades are made up of two lites of 3/8 inch tempered glass with a 0.90 mil structural interlayer.

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