The Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  opened in October 2015 as PNC’s new corporate headquarters. The building, which will host more than 2,000 employees. Incorporating state-of-the-art green technology, including a double-skin façade and solar chimney, the tower was designed to exceed LEED Platinum certification and to be the greenest office tower in the world.

A variety of PPG products were used to help achieve these sustainability goals. PPG Industries’ SUNGATE passive low-emissivity (low-e) glass, STARPHIRE ULTRA-CLEAR glass, CORAFLON powder coatings and PPG PAINTS products were all used on the Tower at PNC Plaza. Designed to be the world’s greenest office building, the 33-story skyscraper features an innovative double-skin façade, one of the first of its kind in North America, that is designed to help the building naturally ventilate for more than 40 percent of the year. The inner and outer curtain walls incorporate metal panels finished with Coraflon fluoropolymer powder coating in Gray Mica and Sungate and STARPHIRE glasses laminated or fabricated into dual insulating glass units (IGUs).

Combined with Starphire glass in a standard 1-inch IGU, Sungate glass has visible light transmittance (VLT) of 80 percent, along with a solar-heat-gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.68 and a winter nighttime U-value of 0.28. Sungate glass is engineered to maximize the environmental performance of buildings in northern climates by harvesting solar heat in the winter to diminish furnace loads and by emitting high levels of daylight year-round to reduce lighting costs.

PPG noted that Starphire glass is made with a proprietary low-iron formulation that was introduced 25 years ago yet still produces the industry’s clearest, most transparent float glass.

With their solvent-free, ultra-low-VOC (volatile organic compound) formulations, Coraflon fluoropolymer powder coatings promote sustainable design while providing hard, durable UV (ultraviolet)-resistant surfaces that retain color and gloss for decades. Four PPG Paints products were used to finish indoor and outdoor surfaces, including SPEEDHIDE latex, Speedhide Zero zero-VOC* latex and PITT-GLAZE WB1 acrylic-epoxy interior paints, as well as PITT-TECH satin industrial enamel direct-to-metal exterior paint. (*Colorants added to this base paint may increase VOC level significantly depending on color choice.)

The two-layer façade for The Tower at PNC Plaza is equipped with a motorized outer layer and a manually operable inner layer of louvers that draw fresh air across building floors, where it warms, rises through two shafts in the building’s core and exhausts through the roof. Narrow floor plates and highly transparent Starphire and Sungate glasses enable light to penetrate 92 percent of work spaces throughout the building.

J.E. Berkowitz, Pedricktown, New Jersey, a member of the PPG CFP CERTIFIED FABRICATOR PROGRAM group, fabricated and delivered nearly 1 million total square feet of glass for the project. The glazing contractor was Permasteelisa North America Corp., Windsor, Connecticut. Coraflon powder coatings were applied by Sapa Extrusions America, a member of the PPG CAP CERTIFIED APPLICATOR PROGRAM (PPG/CAP) group.