Swiss Re Next, Zurich (CH)

Since 2017, Swiss reinsurer Swiss Re Next has been based in a new building with a wave-shaped curved glass façade designed by Basel architects Diener & Diener. The defining element of the façade is its shell of rippling glass, assembled from more than 900 panes. The corrugations, evoking the surface on Lake Zurich, were bent by sunglass industry.

The curtain-wall façade with an area of 6,475sqm consists of bent laminated safety glass. Each pane is made from 2 plies of 10mm float glass laminated with PVB and coated with a silver solar-control coating to achieve a light transmission of 71%.

The wave form was achieved through gravity bending. For Swiss Re Next, special moulds in two formats were built to bend the glass panes with heights between 4.20m and 4.80m. More than 430 wavy panes with a curved length of 2.60m and a rise of 46cm span between the ground and third floors. Another 480 curved safety glass panes, each with 1.20m curved length and 23cm rise, have been installed on the floors above.