The problem: The Mona Lisa is not the Louvre’s sole attraction. The museum’s futuristic inverted pyramid is just as likely to stick in the mind. No doubt painful to design, it stands as testament to a new type of transparent structure.
The answer: In the same vein, TVT designs hybrid glass-steel beams that combine formal elegance with the necessary features of efficiency and static safety to a degree, the company claims, no other glass structures are able to offer. The company’s third prototype, with its free span of 12 metres, is presently the longest glass beam of its kind in the world (pictured).
The company: In 2014 TVT ranked third at the Start Cup Toscana, an Italian competition for new businesses. In 2010 the glass beams were included in the almanac of excellence drawn up by the Foreign Office under the "Winning Italy" category and in 2012 they were placed among the 100 most important innovations of “Made in Italy”, the country’s premier merchandise mark. The company is led by Vito Vitarelli and licences two patents owned by the university. Roberglass, the builder of Louvre’s inverse pyramid, supplies the company with processed glass and panels.
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