clear walls

Cast acrylic and water are a great match, says Nate Reynolds of Reynolds Polymer Technology. Indeed, since the company started in the 1970s, most of its projects have been about containing large amounts of water while providing clear viewing for high-volume aquariums, display pools and other watershapes. Here, Reynolds guides us through some of the firm’s most ambitious installations while discussing what it takes to design with acrylic.

Shining Through

When you ask people about transparent building materials, most people immediately think of glass. Glass is certainly stronger than most people realize, but it has never been an ideal structural material because of its weight, brittleness and structural limitations. With our acrylic products, by contrast, architects and other designers have found a material with which they can create substantial transparent structures that are much lighter and more versatile than those made with glass – and with a structural strength more than double that of concrete. R-Cast acrylic (as we call it) is indeed an amazing material: Its uses span from the obvious pools, fountains or aquariums to awesome signage and seemingly impossible structures and lighting (to mention a few possibilities). Its combination of optical clarity with safety, strength, flexibility and UV resistance has allowed an increasing numbers of designers across a range of disciplines to embrace the material as never before. There are several firms that provide acrylic materials to the construction marketplace, with