The smart use of efficient glazing solutions in conjunction with the shading strategy helps to design and build stylish and comfortable low energy buildings.

Glazing solutions should balance solar heat gains and heat losses through the building envelope, and provision of sufficient daylight to reduce artificial lighting needs.

Within the HPI d-school Building, a single glazed unit with low emissivity has been used all around the building. In the Cape Town climate, the direct solar radiation can be mitigated by external shading and diffuse solar radiation primarily by glazing performance. Diffuse solar radiation is mostly uniform on all orientations, which means that the same glazing performance can be applied all around the building, assuming all other factors stay similar.

The fenestration (windows and doors) have also been designed to provide external views and a connection to nature for the building occupants. At least 60% of the regularly occupied areas in the building have a visual connection to the outdoors.