Opening Doors: Safety Glazing Offers Solution For Shopping Center

The Bellevue Square Shopping Center recently added an 110,000-square-foot expansion and a covered parking garage to its already impressive facility. Located just eight miles east of Seattle, Bellevue Square features over 200 of the nation's finest stores and boutiques and draws 16 million visitors a year. It is considered to be the premier shopping destination in the Northwest, and one of the best shopping centers in the nation.

Pairs of two-lite leaf, 90-minute (non-temperature rise) fire-rated doors are used between the new multi-level parking facility and the mall. The doors posed a challenge for an upscale retail environment, since 90-minute fire doors typically only incorporate small vision lites with polished wired glass. Yet, such an option was not considered a viable choice, since many of the doors open directly into high-end retail stores.

Sclater Partners Architects, who designed the addition and garage for the mall, specified FireLite Plus as the glazing in the doors. The clear and wireless glass ceramic met all their qualifications: It offered a 90-minute fire rating for non-temperature rise doors, as well as a high-impact safety rating. What's more, FireLite Plus could be installed in large sizes (up to 1,296 square inches per lite in 90-minute doors), which made it a good candidate to offer the clear visibility that was critical to the project. To find out more on FireLite Plus by Technical Glass Products (# 201),