Project Spotlight - NRG Energy – Privacy Films

Custom Privacy Films for New Corporate Headquarters
Princeton, New Jersey

Challenge:

Having outgrown its previous facility, NRG Energy constructed a new 130,000-square-foot headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey from which to serve its three million residential energy customers in 47 states.

The interior designs of each the building’s three floor represent the different sources of energy from which the company generates its power: earth, wind and sun. The layout included modules or cubicle offices in the center portions of each floor, with offices, conference rooms and other spaces around the perimeter with glass walls that span from floor to ceiling.

Given the “fishbowl” effect of the layout on the occupants of the outer offices and rooms, NRG specified privacy film for the glass walls, but the original contractor’s inexperience with such applications led to disappointment.

The film they applied was uniform in its opacity, whereas different glass walls called for varying levels of translucency. Most offices and rooms, for example, required a high degree of light transmission for brightness, whereas a nursing room for new mothers needed full privacy. What’s more, many films showed a clear edge that distracted from the overall décor of the new headquarters.

Solution:

Offered the opportunity redesign and reinstall the privacy films, Alliance Global Graphics began by printing vinyl graphics in differing levels of white ink opacity and gaining NRG’s input on where each type would be optimally applied.

Specifically, our custom privacy film solution employed 3M™ Scotchcal™ Clear View Graphic Film 8150 with a 3M™ Scotchcal™ Optically Clear Overlaminate 8914, printed with varying white ink gradients to create patterns and tones that perfectly matched the energy theme on each floor.

For some glass walls, the white ink opacity had a lower percentage to allow for greater translucency and transmission of light. In other situations, a higher level of white ink opacity ensured more privacy. In the suites of senior executives, Alliance Global Graphics proposed solid dusted crystal vinyl to create even more privacy.

Simultaneously, Alliance Global Graphics developed custom graphics for each glass wall that would optimize its application while complementing the singular design theme of each floor.

A similar high degree of care went into the installations. Teams of professionals from Alliance Global Graphics had the glass company remove all handles and hardware before applying the custom privacy films to the correct walls and ensuring all were at the correct height.

No small endeavor, the project encompassed custom designing, fabricating and installing privacy films for the glass walls of 50 offices and conference rooms as well as a large 100’ window overlooking the energy company’s trading floor.

The result? Glass wall films that worked as NRG originally intended for the new headquarters, achieving the degree of privacy each application called for while complementing the interior design the energy firm had so hard to achieve.