Solutia's Blast-Resistant Interlayers Used in New Oklahoma City Federal Campus

St. Louis-based Solutia Inc.'s blast-resistant interlayers were used in the glazing of the new Oklahoma Federal Campus that replaces the Alfred P. Murrah Building destroyed in the 1995 terrorist bombing.

"Security was paramount when designing the campus, but we also wanted to create a sense of openness in a sustainable building," according to lead designer, Carol Ross Barney of Ross Barney + Jankowski, the Chicago-based architectural firm that designed the Federal Campus. "The generous use of glass in the building design allowed us to accomplish all these objectives. We wanted a safe, but not prison-like building."
The design of the new 181,000 square foot, three-story building, which opened in December, 2003, features the expansive use of laminated glass, made with interlayers from Solutia.

"Without compromising the open and inviting look and feel of the building, we needed to ensure the Federal Campus provided a safe and secure environment for its occupants. The need for high performance security glazing was evident," explained Ross Barney.

Glazing contractors Masonry Arts, who also designed, fabricated and installed replacement windows in the Pentagon, selected blast resistant laminated glass, made with Solutia's Saflex ® protective polyvinyl butyral (pvb) interlayer. The glazing configuration was used in the design of both the curtain wall and punched windows in the new Federal Campus.

"To resist the blast resistant loads, the architect chose galvanized steel as the exposed, structural framing components for the windows and curtain wall system," said senior project manager Robert Grosze of Masonry Arts. "What was really unique to this project design was the decision to expose the concrete and steel framework."