1999

After two millennia of single-pane window glass, followed by five decades of insulating cavity glass, it is wrong to assume that the importance of window glass in the modern world is determined solely by the lowest U-value, as Michel Trompert concluded in 1999 after his analysis of the unsustainable disadvantages of cavity glass. 

 

With a team, he worked on new and tenable properties of single-pane glass that would both meet the needs of this generation and on which the next generation could still build. This included goals such as further reducing energy consumption and maintaining a balance between nature and culture, resulting in the elimination of vulnerable elements such as vacuum- or gas-filled cavities, strips, dots and edges that are only added to achieve a low U-value. 

 

The Van Ruysdael glass concept, which grew out of his vision, aims to better protect and preserve the usability and identity of our built environment by providing a future-proof solution using less but sustainable material. This would make subsidies and labelling systems redundant, which only focus on supporting insulation with low U-values. Van Ruysdael glass would begin to contribute to an ideal living environment that is ready for the future.