Viracon Spandrel Glass is offered in two types - ceramic frit and opacifying films for use in commercial building designs. Our Viraspan™ Ceramic Frits let you harmonize the glass with the vision areas of your building. You can choose from 12 standard colors or create your own custom colors to give you the flexibility to design a distinctive look.

Vision/Spandrel Match for Non-Vision Areas
Often a project may require spandrel glass to harmonize with the vision areas of your building. However, this is sometimes difficult to achieve when high-light transmitting or low-reflective glass types are used. Instead, the use of low-light transmitting and high-reflective glass types provide the least contrast between vision and spandrel areas under a variety of lighting conditions.

In addition, variable sky conditions can also influence our perception of glass color and general appearance. On a bright, sunny day, the exterior light intensity is approximately 50 to 100 times greater than the interior lighting level.

When viewing the glass from the outside, the dominant visual characteristic is the exterior reflection. On gray, overcast days, a greater visual disparity is created between vision and spandrel areas. This is due to the transparency of the vision glass and the perception of depth created by interior lighting. The non-vision areas tend to look flat and two-dimensional by contrast.

Because spandrel glass is virtually opaque, it can only be viewed in reflection. On the other hand, vision glass possesses a degree of transmission. As the transmission of the vision glass increases during overcast conditions, interior lighting becomes more prevalent. Viracon recommends viewing glass samples or full-size mockups to match vision and spandrel glass areas when the visible light transmission of the vision glass exceeds 14 percent.

Greater contrast between vision and spandrel areas occurs when using uncoated, tinted glass (green, bronze, blue, etc.) or high transmission, Low-E coatings. Under these conditions, insulating spandrel units can create the illusion of depth and approximate the vision glass more closely. By keeping the vision and spandrel glass construction similar (the same exterior glass color, coating, etc.), the contrast can be minimized under various lighting conditions. Viracon recommends using a neutral colored ceramic frit on the number four surface.

Spandrel Products
Viracon offers two types of spandrel products-ceramic frit and opacifier films for use in commercial building designs.