Trosifol and. and SentryGlas. join forces

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1 LAM I NAT I N G With the motto Best of Both, Kuraray was present at glasstec with a new type of stand where emphasis was not given to presenting products but to communicating both with customers and visitors. It also means the best of both worlds, also thanks to the recent pooling of two important brands: Trosifol and SentryGlas. Trosifol and SentryGlas join forces 42 Glass-Technology International 6/2014 Trosifol art GTI 6.indd 42 10/11/

2 lients and visitors to the Kuraray stand at glasstec were met with a really pleasant and inviting area to discuss in, and where they were presented with the recent developments following the takeover of DuPont s Glass Laminating Solutions (GLS) division. Glass-Technology International was invited to a press meeting with the new Marketing Manager Christoph Troska, spoke about how work is now focussed on maintaining close relationships with local markets, while also being more specific too. Best of Both is the motto that Kuraray is communi- C cating to customers at the fair. By this we mean the best of both worlds, says Troska. We are now in the unique position of being able to offer our customers not only our comprehensive PVB product range, but established ionomer technology as well. During the meeting, Kuraray Managing Director Matthias Gutweiler affirmed: We are convinced that this pooling of resources will enable us to serve our customers even better with the Best of Both worlds. In the integration process, we wish to closely involve all our customers and employees. And to be sure that the ta- keover will bring good results, Kuraray is continue to invest heavily in R&D, with also be a stronger focus on automotive glass applications, and accelerating innovation in this field. TAKEOVER OF DUPONT S GLS BUSINESS On 1 June this year, Kuraray officially took over the Glass Laminating Solutions (GLS) segment of US DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. The purchase price came to USD 543 million plus the value of all stockpiles. By taking over SentryGlas, the best-known GLS product, Kuraray is adding an important material to its product portfolio. At DuPont, GLS achieved net sales of over USD 500 million in 2012 as a whole. GLS/Vinyls has a 600-strong workforce and six production locations in the US, Europe and Asia that serve over 350 customers worldwide. The effects of the acquisition on the consolidated business results of the Kuraray Group for fiscal year 2014 ending in December are currently being analysed and will be published. We will benefit from the talented GLS/Vinyls employees worldwide and from DuPont s technology, research & development, production and distribution network. I am convinced that this expertise will help us to boost our vinyl acetate business further, said Keiji Murakami, President of the Kuraray Group vinyl acetate company, in a press publication on the acquisition of the DuPont business unit. When the American competition regulator approved the acquisition without restrictions, the European authorities gave its consent subject to certain conditions. To satisfy competition law, Kuraray is not therefore permitted to integrate the production location for PVB films in Hamm-Uentrop and the associated service activities into its own business operations, but has had to sell them off. Kuraray reached an agree- Glass-Technology International 6/2014 Trosifol art GTI 6.indd /11/

3 LAMINATING ment to sell the European PVB film business formerly owned by European subsidiaries of DuPont, including the production facility in Uentrop and the R&D center in Mechelen for enterprise value of circa EUR 12 million with adjustments for net cash/debt balance and net working capital upon closing to GVC S.A. which is a subsidiary company of GVC Holdings, Inc. The transaction is anticipated to close in January 2015, after customary regulatory approvals, and is also conditional upon the European Commission s approval. The impact of the transaction on consolidated results for the fiscal year ending December 2014 is currently being quantified and will be disclosed after this assessment has been completed. Black&White range, Trosifol is giving architects and designers a creative tool that lends expression to this formal language. Brilliant Black has an unsurpassed colour depth, high colour brilliance and total opacity. Diamond White, on the other hand, is an also opaque, rich, strong shade of white with an impressive high reflectivity. These two shades are supplemented by three more white design films in different shades and with different degrees of opacity. Shining White, a dazzling, aesthetic white with 10 per cent light transmittance, the semi-transparent Sand White, that allows 70 per cent of the light through, and White Translucent, an almost opaque all-rounder with 55 per cent transmittance, is ideal as an attractive visual barrier. The functionalities of the five films are neatly balanced and create novel potential for design. Brilliant Black, for instance, has a colour depth unparalleled on the market and absolute opacity. Not even light sources behind it are visible. Trosifol stresses that the new products feature the familiar and proven advantages such as excellent edge stability, high mechanical strength, outstanding longterm stability and suitability for use indoors and outdoors. Products of the current film range could also be seen in the furnishings and construction of the stand at glasstec At the counter, various panes of glass were embellished with films of the Black&White range. The light-impermeable black film from this range was used considerably on the large gateway. Bright colours and black and white contrasts were integrated in a professional ambience at the stand with its clear-cut, almost Cubist formal language. PRODUCT INNOVA- TIONS Black&White puts an end to shades of grey Black&White means the total lack of colour, thus strengthening the effect of contrasts, highlights and textures. Opposites meet, repel or attract, and come to life. This life adds intensity to a shape or a space. And appeal. Striking contrasts can enhance this vitality still further and underscore an even clearer formal language. With the total of five architectural films of its 44 Glass-Technology International 6/2014

4 In visual contrast, the left gateway presented various colours of the Colour range, where they demonstrate their brilliance. Incidentally, the Colour range can be extended as desired with the Black&White series, as Diamond White films are an obvious choice for combinations with printed PVB films. Another possibility is combinations with coloured PVB films to make them opaque. A fine example of this is the façade of the new PVB production plant in Troisdorf. Trosifol films have been making glass safer for almost 60 years. PVB films are impressive with their excellent edge stability, high mechanical strength and outstanding longterm stability. When the glass shatters, the glass fragments adhere to the film and reduce the risk of injury considerably thanks to the highstrength bond between the glass plies and the PVB film. CASE STUDY Kulturpassage Karlsplatz, more than a traffic hub After three years of construction, the busiest local public transport hub in Austria s capital has been resplendent in its new glory for about a year now. The Kulturpassage Karlsplatz project is much more than a means of interlinking metro stations now

5 LAMINATING Europe-wide architecture competition Karlsplatzpassage and Opernpassage, a listed monument, were refurbished after a Europe-wide architecture competition while metro trains continued to run as usual. The goals were not only the preservation of existing monuments, but also an improvement in mobility at Vienna s key public transport hub, attractive design and enhanced visitor quality, ease of orientation combined with a stronger sense of safety and disabled access, and state-of-the-art building services and fire protection installations. In addition to the widening and improved structuring of the walkway covering a total of 8,000 square metres, the architects came up with the idea of linking the walkway, as a lively urban space devoted to art and culture, with Vienna s world-famous cultural institutions in the immediate neighbourhood. In this way, visitors were to experience Karlsplatz as a focus of the arts, even underground. The aim was that the artworks should be easy to decipher at a fleeting glance and make a labarrier-free so that over 200,000 travellers can get to their trains. The main beneficiaries of this revitalisation project are the many thousands of users of the underground walkway. And Vienna as the city with the highest quality of life worldwide has been upgraded as well, says a gratified Mayor Michael Häupl. A total of EUR 21 million was invested in the regeneration of the old Karlsplatz station. Art in public places The designers attached special importance to the integration of the new Karlsplatz station in its environment of listed monuments. Karlsplatz, a public square, is situated in the centre of Vienna in the immediate proximity of numerous time-honoured art and cultural institutions such as the Opera House, the Vienna Museum, the Musikverein concert hall and the Karlskirche (church). Art s ability to unite finds successful and literal expression in the new subterranean art walkway where it serves as a connecting element at the heart of the revitalisation project, says Andeas Mailath-Pokorny, head of the city s culture department. On the information screens provided, visitors to the underground walkway are informed not only of train departure times, but also of current exhibitions and events in the surrounding arts venues. In addition, culture guidelines have been marked on the floor and ceiling, leading the way with different-coloured, luminous stripes to the various institutions in the vicinity. sting impression. At the same time, the monument-protected Opernpassage was to be restored to its original state and the historic structure refurbished to modern standards without impairing its historic character. As one of 25 entries, a design by Viennese architects gerner gerner plus and Ritter+Ritter in cooperation with the internationally active engineers Vasko+Partner won the competition (consortium kulturpassage karlsplatz gerner gerner plus ritter+ritter vasko+partner ingenieure ). Opernpassage restoration The underground walkway linking the Opera House to Karlsplatz has become known colloquially as Opernpassage. In fact, Opernpassage is confined to the area beneath the Opernring/Kärntnerstrasse junction. In 1955, the walkway designed by Adolf Hoch was opened as part of the major development project to improve public road transport. In the redesign of Opernpassage, great importance was attached to preserving the character of this listed structure as far as possible. As a prelude to refurbishment, the original fabric was first investigated in order to free it of more recent modifications and restore it to its original state. We researched how Opernpassage was originally fitted out by referring to numerous 46 Glass-Technology International 6/2014

6 historic photographs and this is how we arrived at the choice of natural stone for the floors and walls that is similar in appearance to the original floor surface, Gerda Maria and Andreas Gerner explain. To their surprise, they discovered historic linoleum floorcoverings beneath the more recent polygonal marble slabs. In the course of historic refurbishment, the appearance of the original linoleum floorcovering was to be reinstated but without using linoleum because of this material s poor compatibility with Austria s present-day fire protection standards. In terms of pattern and hue, the original floorcovering is delicately quoted by the coloured stone paving. Opernpassage columns However, the monument preservation authority and architects had far greater problems finding a solution for the columns. The Gordian knot here was finally untied with the aid of printed Trosifol polyvinyl butyral (PVB) films. These come from Kuraray Euro- pe GmbH, which is located in Germany and belongs to the Japanese Kuraray Group. The printed pattern was derived from the professional photographs taken by gerner gerner plus of the original linoleum surfaces dating back to the 1950s. The photographs were printed onto the glass elements used for cladding the columns. The historic appearance has been restored visually to all the surfaces while modern safety requirements have been complied with at the same time. The dark red is now in line with the guidelines of monument preservation and has brought some of the spirit of the 1950s back to Kulturpassage Karlsplatz, gerner gerner plus explain. In order to render the linoleum patterns printed straight onto the PVB film as accurately as possible, the architects chose 0.76 mm thick Diamond White Trosifol film. This is an opaque film in a powerful shade of highly reflective white. Kuraray customer Eckelt Glas GmbH in Steyr, Austria, fabricated laminated safety glass by sandwiching this film between two six millimetre thick plies of curved white glass. If all of today s regulations are to be complied with, there is obviously no better way of replicating the original. Friedrich Dahm, senior preservation expert at Austria s monument protection authority, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome in the newspaper Der Standard, 09/2013: The historic core of Opernpassage has been restored in conformity with monument preservation provisions. In terms of colouration and pattern, the replicas on the films behind glass match the originals of Glass with its higher standards of fire safety than the original linoleum is very shiny and, unlike linoleum, reflects the lighting in its surroundings. In a design that makes do with a limited stock of materials, such supposedly incidental features really stand out, said Martina Frühwirth of the Vienna Architecture Centre at the beginning of the year. Kuraray Europe GmbH Mülheimer Strasse 26, D Troisdorf - Germany Tel: Fax: trosifol@kuraray.eu