Curved glass
The curve is in the glass. The switchable layer follows it
Nothing about switchable glass is flat by nature. The liquid-crystal layer is a film — thinner than half a millimetre, and flexible enough to be applied by hand to glass that is already in a building. What decides the geometry is the glass it is laminated between, which means a curved switchable panel is a curved glass panel with a switchable layer in it, made the way any curved laminate is made.
PriWatt makes rectangles, curves and whatever else the opening requires, with the holes, notches and cut-outs the hardware needs. A curve is fabricated rather than chosen from a list of sizes.
Two ways to a curved switchable surface
Laminated curved glass
The panel is made to the geometry: curved low-iron glass, heat-treated or fully tempered, laminated around the switchable layer. This is the route for a curved wall, a column, a radiused partition or a cylindrical enclosure, and it is the one the photograph above shows.
Film onto curved glazing
Self-adhesive film applied to a curve that is already in the building. Film conforms in one direction, so a single-curvature surface — a bowed partition, a curved shopfront — is a retrofit; a compound curve is not.
Which of the two applies is usually decided for you: if the glass is already there and the building is in use, it is film. If the panel is being made anyway, it is laminated glass, and the switchable layer costs nothing in geometry that the curve has not already cost.
The radius, the direction and the developed size
| Line | Why it is asked first |
|---|---|
| Radius | The tightest curve on the drawing, confirmed against what the glass can be formed to before anything is quoted |
| Single or compound curvature | A single curve is routine. A surface that bends in two directions is a different fabrication and, for film, not a retrofit |
| Developed size | The panel limit — 70 × 165 in on PDLC glass, 57 × 165 in on PNLC and DLC — is measured around the curve, not across the chord |
| Which edge the wiring leaves | The busbar sits on an edge; on a curve, which edge that is affects both the framing and the run |
| How it is held | Channel, clamps, patch fittings or a structural silicone joint — the fixing is designed with the panel, not after it |
| Joints between panels | A long curve is several panels. Where the joints fall is a design decision, and it is cheaper to make it early |
Every project starts with a technical review and shop drawings before fabrication. On a curve that review is the project: send the radius and the developed sizes with the enquiry and the answer comes back as a price and a lead time rather than as a question.
Reverse mode is the usual choice, and not for a technical reason
A curved glass wall is almost never built to be looked at frosted. It is built for the geometry, and the switching is there for the hour a room behind it needs to be private — which is the argument for reverse mode: clear with no power, private only while it is switched, and no power drawn for the ninety per cent of the week that the curve is doing what it was designed to do.
PDLC is the cheaper product and holds frosted unpowered, which suits a curved enclosure around something private — a stair core, a treatment room, a cylindrical meeting pod. Both are made to the same shapes.
Reverse mode in full
Clear with no power: what it changes for energy, the failure state and haze — and where it is wrong.
PDLC against PNLC
Haze, privacy, switching, voltage, power draw and panel limits, side by side.
What a shape costs
Curves, notches and holes are made rather than ordered. What that does to the number.
Common questions
Yes. The switchable layer is a flexible film laminated between the glass, so the geometry is set by the glass — curved panels are made to the drawing, along with the holes, notches and cut-outs the fixings need. The radius is confirmed at technical review before the panel is quoted.
It depends on the glass thickness, the make-up and the panel size, so it is answered against the actual drawing rather than published as a single figure. Send the tightest radius on the project with the developed sizes and it comes back confirmed or qualified — that is the first thing technical review looks at.
On a single curve, yes — film conforms in one direction, which is what makes a bowed partition or a curved shopfront a retrofit rather than a rebuild. A compound curve, bending in two directions at once, is not a film application.
No. The panel runs at the same voltage from the same isolation transformer and draws under 0.5 W per square foot. What the curve changes is which edge the wiring leaves from and how the run is concealed, both of which are drawn before fabrication.
Yes — a rectangle is the cheapest thing a plant can make, and a curve is fabricated to the geometry. The pricing page sets out the ranges and what moves them; a curved panel is quoted against the drawing rather than off a rate.
Built from the same six products
Doors
The one format where the glass moves, which makes the wiring the detail rather than the panel. Internal doors, entrances and glazed leaves in a partition run.
Read more
Shower enclosures
The room where the glass is the wall. Normal mode is frosted with no power, so a power cut leaves the enclosure private — which is the failure state a bathroom wants.
Read more
Skylights and overhead glazing
Overhead, the problem is usually the sun rather than the neighbours. DLC moves between a tinted transparent state and a deep dark one, which is glare and solar gain rather than privacy.
Read more
Railings and balustrades
Two projects in service — a New York waterfront terrace and a North Palm Beach pool deck. Reverse mode holds the view with no power drawn, and frosts for the hour it is wanted.
Read more
Rear-projection surfaces
In its private state the panel is a diffusing surface, which is what a rear-projection screen is. The partition that gives a meeting room privacy is the screen it presents onto.
Read more
Insulated units and facades
A switchable layer inside the insulating unit, on the exterior envelope. What it changes for solar gain, HVAC load and the elevation.
Read moreSend the opening, not the product code
Sizes, the shapes, whether the glass is already in the building and which state it should hold with no power. That is enough for a price and a lead time. Pompano Beach, Florida; (833) 333-8556.