High-Performance Glass Facades For Safe And Future-Ready Architecture
As architecture evolves to address both environmental concerns and aesthetic aspirations, glass has moved from being a simple design material to a performance-led solution. The second session of Glass Academy Webinars 2025–26, hosted in collaboration with Ethos Empowers, spotlighted this shift through an engaging and technically rich presentation by Ar. Rahul Kadam, Founding Partner at NGK Studio, Pune.
With over two and a half decades of diverse experience and a deeply rooted philosophy of sensitive and green design, Ar. Rahul’s portfolio demonstrates a wide range of architectural glass solutions that are both technical and emotive. In the webinar, he took us through a journey of innovation, functionality, and resilience, showing how glass is no longer just about transparency, but about intention.
An alumnus of BKPS College of Architecture, Pune and a Master’s graduate from South Bank University, London, Ar. Rahul Kadam has worked with legendary architects such as Bimal Patel, Kamal Malik, and Karan Grover. His 15-year leadership at Edifice Consultants Pvt. Ltd. was marked by landmark projects for clients like TCS, Mastercard, and CISCO. Today, as co-founder of NGK Studio, he continues to advocate for ecologically responsible, technically sound, and thoughtfully detailed design.
Safety-First Skylights: Engineering for Resilience
One of the most compelling segments of the webinar featured Ar. Rahul’s approach to designing laminated glass skylights, especially over high-use areas like swimming pools. He shared how these were not just designed for light and views, but also engineered to address serious safety parameters such as earthquake resistance, wind uplift, fire safety, and even disaster resilience. What stood out was how every specification accounted not only for structural load but also thermal comfort and long-term durability, highlighting the role of glass as a structural element, not just an aesthetic one.
The Breathing Building Strategy: Merging Glass and Passive Cooling
In projects like office buildings with large floor plates, Ar. Rahul detailed his use of louvered façades paired with high-performance glass to create a passive cooling strategy. East and west-facing facades—traditionally challenging due to direct sunlight—were managed using strategically placed energy-efficient glass and indoor landscapes, improving both thermal comfort and air circulation. These were not just climate responses, but part of a broader philosophy of letting architecture work with sustainable building materials.
Smart Detailing: From Visual Transparency to Acoustic and Thermal Comfort
Rahul’s detailing prowess was evident in his boardroom designs with double-glazed toughened glass—used not only for views but also for sound privacy, making spaces multi-functional using glass facade systems without sacrificing openness. Similarly, he showed examples of anti-glare coated glass in southwest facades, used to reduce harsh afternoon light while maintaining a visual connection to the landscape.
From Studio to Site: Technical Understanding for Students
Rahul took a moment to address students directly, reflecting on why the technical side of glass is often ignored in design education. He encouraged them to study the values of glass in detail, and most importantly, to test materials in their studio work through sun path diagrams and basic simulations. Understanding when and why to use glass, he said, begins long before you choose a product—it starts with how you think about space and comfort.
This session was a reminder that design is not just about solving problems—it’s about framing possibilities. By choosing the right type of glass and combining it with technical expertise, architects and designers can shape spaces that are both sustainable and stunning.
For students and emerging professionals, Ar. Rahul’s insights served as a blueprint for approaching materiality with depth, curiosity, and climate consciousness.
Ar. Rahul’s webinar successfully reframed the role of glass in architecture as a medium to bring in light and as an element to shape safer, greener, and more adaptable environments. His thoughtful insights on the balance of aesthetics, engineering, and sustainability offered a compelling vision of what the future of design can look like.