GPI Blog is Moving to New Website

We've re-designed our website and one of the changes includes an integrated blog.  Please check us out at GPI's Beneath the Surface Blog for all future posts!


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Backlighting Resin with LED Panels

Resin and acrylic surfaces can provide intense color and flexibility.  The lightweight nature allows for ease of installation and reduced structural support or hardware.  Many resin-based products are so translucent, attention to the structural systems and lighting design need to be considered to properly eliminate shadows, hot spots, or visual identification of the light source.

GPI’s FLAT-Lite™ custom LED panels were used to backlight 3Form © resin for the renovation of Harrah’s Rincon Café.  All panels were wired back to FLAT-Lite™ Power Supplies so that over 100 SF of LED panels were run off a single power source.

More about the surface:

3Form © Varia Ecoresin “Moderna” collection- swept silver with custom cobalt color and patina finishes.

GPI's Sustainable Practices & Products

GPI’s environmental policy is straightforward: if it harms the environment, we avoid it.  It is evident in everything we do here, form the cars we drive to the fluorescent-free lighting in our offices to recycling our own paper.  You will find forward-thinking in our partnerships, in our processes and in our products.  We believe our designs have an impact, maybe small, but an impact nonetheless.  What matters most is that we are doing our best to influence smart, sustainable design and we are proud of our long history of environmentally-conscious design.  

A few more examples of our commitment -

• We use thin slices, just fractions of Mother Earth in our DURA-Lite™ natural stone panels (renewable).
• With thin, lightweight panels, our shipping footprint is a fraction of typical stone shipping footprints.
• Our custom natural stone panel fabrication produces up to 35% less waste.
• Our FLAT-Lite™ LED panels use very little energy and last for years and years.
• Our FLAT-Lite™ LED panels generate no heat, or hazardous material waste.
• Lighter, thinner products allow substantially less steel needed in our structural systems.
• We offer recycled glass products including a 100% post-consumer waste glass panel.
• Our PVC used in our stretch fabrics is 100% recycled.
• Increasing the use of wall panel substrates with recycled and no formaldehyde-added content.
• We are using or converting to aqueous-based adhesives and top coats with low emitting volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).
• We use only HAPS compliant coatings.
• All saw dust produced in our manufacturing process is recycled.
• All low VOC solvents used in manufacturing are recycled.
• We recycle cardboard, clear plastic and paper used in our offices.
• We use LOW Emission and hybrid vehicles for company transportation.
• Protection and sustained yield management are strictly enforced.
• We no longer print marketing sales aids, all tech info and product sheets are sent electronically.
• When we do print in the office, we use “spranq eco sans” font that uses 20% less ink. (http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html)

In doing our part to protect the environment, we will continue to pursue ways to find new, more sustainable solutions for our company and customers.

Dura-Lite™ is in Good Company on Materialicious

GPI International's DURA-Lite™ translucent glass-backed natural stone product is now featured on the Materialicious website.

Materialicious is a useful, design-driven database of design surfaces, objects, and spaces.   We're having a blast exploring other materials on here, as well.

See DURA-Lite™ featured on Materialicious and check out all of the other innovative posts.

Illuminating Translucent Materials in Our Design Lab

Some of the latest surfaces our designers are testing.  The sky is the limit!

We're a Favorite Place on Google!

Just opened today's mail, and almost lost in the stack of colorful Christmas mailings and office supply brochures was a small, crisp yellow envelope from Google Headquarters.  GPI International was chosen as one of Google's new "Favorite Places on Google", the mega-company's latest efforts to reach out to small businesses and capitalize on the growth of mobile technology.  

How it works: we'll post the sticker with our unique QR code on it, anyone passing by with the right "app" on their mobile phone can scan the bar code.   The user will be able to read reviews, visit the website, and find out any information on our company. 

Sounds kind of like a combination of Yelp, Twitter, and Whitepages all at once.  Now we just have to decide which window to put the sticker on...

Thanks to our wonderful clients and collaborators for searching for GPI and making us a Favorite Place on Google! 


Still not sure what we're talking about? Google Blog explains this new program in more depth.

You Tell Us: New Materials & Products

Our design team is continuously building our materials library with the latest and greatest in architectural surfaces.  Backlighting translucent surfaces is what we do best- especially if you're crunched for space and need even illumination across a surface.  Based on the properties of the surface you choose, we'll provide consultation for lighting systems and construction details to achieve your intended lighting effect.

GPI International can provide backlighting for virtually any translucent surface you can dream up.  Here's just a sampling of recent products we've been integrating with our FLAT-Lite LED panels:

                 -Glass (recycled, printed, frosted)

                 -Resin / plastic / acrylic / polycarbonate / PETG

                 -Stretch fabrics

                 -Translucent honeycomb panels

                 -Screens

Interior designers, architects, spec. writers, contractors- what new products are you itching to use but haven't found the right application for yet? 

Inherent Variances in Natural Stone & Onyx

Did you know that semi-precious stones are rated like diamonds as the rough blocks are pulled out of the ground?  The variances found in natural stone can affect the maximum panel sizes, structural properties, degree of light transmission, and aesthetic elements of your design visions.  GPI president Thomas Lawrence discusses how to best utilize the design process to shape your natural stone selections.

In predicting the variances found in natural stone, one can only predict common background colors, or overall color shades.  As a product of nature, it is these variances that identify natural stone from manmade stones; it is what sets natural stone apart from other design surfaces.  Inherently, this can make for daunting approval processes & procedures found within the designer / client relationship.  Quarries, suppliers and natural stone processors should use caution when supplying samples swatches of natural stones.  Variances from one slab to the other can vary greatly.  This holds particularly true in semi-precious natural stones such as:

                     Quartz

                     Onyx

                     Alabaster

These stones produce dramatic and quite unique variances that can provide challenges to the quarry or supplier as predicting these variances can prove to be unreliable.  It is suggested that overall tones be depicted through a general identifying name or color shade, ie, HONEY ONYX, MULTI-BROWN ONYX, VOLCANO ONYX, BLUE ONYX. 

1.  Once a general shade has been identified, clients should be made aware of the stones typical and most recognizable characteristics, i.e., striated veining, cloud type appearance, cross cut characteristics and vein cut characteristics alike.  It is only by identifying the general color tone and then recognizing the stones typical characteristics can a semi-precious stone be identified more clearly.  

2.  The client should consider obtaining ACTUAL photographs of current stones being quarried at the time of approval, for approval.  

3.  Samples can then be obtained after a “hold” has been placed on the stone in question.

4.  If then, it is approved; the stone then can be processed from the stock being held.

In many cases natural stones are given names.  Beware; these generalizations are far too encompassing to provide any accuracy when attempting to select a stone for processing.  For example, HONEY ONYX should only communicate the overall tone and base color for the stone.  Among HONEY ONYX itself, we know of over 30 varieties with many different characteristics and tones.  Selecting such a variety can only come from a recent digital image from a trusted and knowledgeable supplier or via personal visit to the quarry yard itself. 

-By Thomas Lawrence, GPI President

FROM THE MARBLE INSTITUTE OF AMERICA:

“Onyx is often confused with marbles, yet it is a significantly different rock type. Onyx is a sedimentary rock, formed as stalactites and stalagmites in cave interiors. This formation method results in the cryptocrystalline construction of the rock fabric, and it is the size and uniformity of these crystals that contribute to the classic translucent property of most onyx varieties. Characteristics of quarried stone are dependent upon the attributes of the deposit from which the stone was extracted; each quarry is able to offer a range of products unique in dimensions, color, and structural properties to its deposit. Therefore, it is preferable that the designer and stone supplier collaborate closely prior to and throughout the design process since planning a project around readily available stone reduces the environmental impact of raw material extraction.”

http://www.marble-institute.com/

Top 3 Ways LED Lighting Technology Can Earn LEED Points

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF LED LIGHTING ON LEED SCORING AND CERTIFICATION

LED lighting can be a significant contributor to obtaining LEED certification for a new building. The use of one technology or product cannot guarantee LEED certification, but LED lighting systems can contribute to LEED certification in at least three areas: Energy and Atmosphere, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation.

GPI's FLAT-Lite LED lighting system provides:

· Low power consumption (12V)

· High source efficacy

· Optical control

· Extremely long operating life (approximately 70,000 hours)

· Delivered lumens

· Very low operating temperature

· Environmental responsibility (LEDs contain no lead or mercury)

· Variety of color temperatures

· Compatibility with photovoltaics (compatible in off-grid solar energy systems)

· Compatibility with lighting control systems

· Dimming options (LEDs’ efficacy actually increases when they are dimmed due to lower junction temperatures)

1. Energy and Atmosphere (EA)

The optimization of energy performance is worth 1 to 10 points in the LEED certification for new construction. This is the primary area where LED lighting can have an impact.

2. Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)

Control of the lighting system by individual occupants or specific groups in multi-occupant spaces can potentially earn 1 point toward LEED certification. LED luminaires provide the opportunity to work as part of a lighting control plan. They provide light instantaneously once power is applied, requiring no warm up time. LED lighting systems can also be dimmed to provide variable light output depending upon the needs of the occupant.

3. Innovation and Design Process (ID)

The utilization of innovative products and processes may earn between 1 and 4 points toward LEED certification. As LED lighting systems for general lighting represent new, innovative technology, they may qualify for LEED certification credit.

To learn more about the USGBC LEED Certification system, click here.

Driverless Podcars at Masdar City

If walls could talk, then our newest installation at Masdar City's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Station would have a lot to say.  The LED backlit glass feature walls (below) frame the entrances into the city's futuristic transportation hub, soon to house the latest cutting edge trend in sustainable transportation.

The  PRT Station is implementing the transit "podcars" to provide sustainable transport to the city's projected 50,000 residents. These compact on-demand travel pods are fully automated and powered by magnetic tracks.   Cars are eliminated, street level green space is preserved, and  places are closely linked via smooth user interface and programmable destinations.

More about Masdar City's transportation system:

Natural Environment

Treehugger.com

Installation Crews on Site at Masdar City, UAE

Masdar City Construction Site: 3 square miles

Some of the largest glass panels ever manufactured!  

LED panels were record-breaking as well.

Progress photo wall 1 of 7

Continuing to expand our international reach, GPI installation crews are currently on site in Abu Dhabi constructing over 3,000 square feet of LED backlit feature walls made of 100% recycled glass.  

Many thanks to our crew members who are sweating out long hours in the sweltering heat! 

To learn more about Masdar City, the world's first carbon-neutral and zero-waste city, click here

Visit the architect's website to see the overall vision: Foster and Partners