INTERNATIONAL ISO

STANDARD 11479-2

First edition
2011-10-01

Glass in building — Coated glass —

Part 2:
Colour of façade
Verre dans la construction — Verre à couche — Partie 2: Couleur des
façades

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Reference number
ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

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ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

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 ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

ISO 11479-2 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 160, Glass in building, Subcommittee SC 1,
Product considerations.

ISO 11479 consists of the following parts, under the general title Glass in building — Coated glass:

— Part 1: Physical defects

— Part 2: Colour of façade

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ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

Introduction

It is known that façades incorporating coated glass can present different shades of the same colour, an effect
that can be amplified when observed under an angle. Possible causes of differences in colour include slight
variations in the colour of the substrate onto which the coating is applied and slight variations in thickness of the
coating itself. Furthermore, for highly selective coatings, a slight variation in thickness can create a difference
in colour, visible due to the high sensitivity of the human eye.

The purpose of this International Standard is to avoid any subjective approaches that might have been used in
the past. This is achieved through the use of spectroscopic techniques and defined evaluation practices.

All measured values concern the finished glass product as installed in the façade and not the single components.

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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

Glass in building — Coated glass —

Part 2:
Colour of façade

1 Scope
This part of ISO 11479 specifies a method for objective evaluation of the colour of coated glass when used in
façades and viewed from the outside, as well as for measuring colour differences within the same glass pane
and between two adjacent panes in the same façade. This part of ISO 11479 does not specify requirements
for determining colour differences of transmitted colour as viewed from the inside or outside of a façade, nor
for internal reflected colour. The comparison should only be undertaken for panes of the same glass type,
composition and interior conditions and situated in the same plane of a façade.

Specific requirements are given for coated glass, dependent upon its light transmittance and reflectance.

This part of ISO 11479 is not applicable to curved or bent glass, which is specifically excluded for technical reasons.

NOTE Information on the perception, quantification and measurement of colour is given in Annex A.

2 Symbols
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NOTE
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The following symbols form part of the colour measurement system used in this part of ISO 11479, which is
based on ISO 11664-4:2008 (CIE S 014-4/E:2007).
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L* cba4a4f0f976/iso-11479-2-2011
lightness assuming a value between 0 and 100

NOTE L* = 0 is black, L* = 100 is white.

2.2
a*
colour definition between green and magenta

NOTE Negative a* is green, positive a* is red.

2.3
b*
colour definition between blue and yellow

NOTE Negative b* is blue, positive b* is yellow.

2.4
ΔEab *
Euclidean distance between the points representing two colours in the CIE L*a*b* colour space

3 In situ colour measurement

The following paragraphs explain the procedures used on site for measuring the colour of the glass product.

Information on the perception, quantification and measurement of colour is given in Annex A.

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ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

3.1 Colour differences within the same glass pane

For colour differences within the same glass pane, the parameters L*, a* and b* shall be measured with a
portable colorimeter or spectrophotometer. The measurements shall be undertaken at a minimum of three
points in each zone representing the colour difference.

NOTE 1 An example is illustrated in Figure 1.

Measurements shall not be undertaken at any point within 10 cm of an edge due to the potential for colour
near the edge to differ slightly from the colour in the centre. However, for glass coated as fixed dimensions,
measurements shall not be undertaken nearer than 15 cm from an edge.

NOTE 2 Measurements can be affected by the proximity of the frame and the edge of the insulating glass unit.

The ΔL*, Δa*, Δb* and ΔEab * values shall be calculated based on the difference between the average values for
each zone, in accordance with Equations (1), (2), (3) and (4), respectively.

ΔL* = L*(zone 2) − L*(zone 1) (1)

Δa* = a*(zone 2) − a*(zone 1) (2)

Δb* = b*(zone 2) − b*(zone 1) (3)

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2 2 2
∆L * ∆a * ∆b *
*
∆E ab = + + (4)

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The values of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* shall meet the requirements given in 3.3.

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X1 Y1
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1 X2 Y2 2

X3 Y3

Key
1 zone 1
2 zone 2

Figure 1 — Example of measurements undertaken at a minimum of three points

in each zone representing the colour difference

3.2 Colour differences between two adjacent panes in the same façade
The comparison should only be undertaken for panes of the same glass type, composition and interior
conditions and situated in the same plane of a façade.

NOTE 1 Interior refers to the ambient lighting inside the building.

NOTE 2 The reference pane can be compared with any of the eight adjacent panes, horizontal, vertical and diagonal.

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 ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

For colour differences between two adjacent panes, the parameters L*, a* and b* shall be measured with a
portable colorimeter or spectrophotometer. For each pane representing the colour difference, the measurements
shall be undertaken at a minimum of three points, e.g. along a diagonal.

NOTE 3 An example is illustrated in Figure 2.

The average values of L*, a* and b* shall be determined for each pane.

NOTE 4 An example is detailed in Table 1.

Table 1 — Example of determining the average values of L*, a* and b* for one pane, e.g. Y

Pane Y L* a* b*
Measuring point Y1 L*Y1 a*Y1 b*Y1
Measuring point Y2 L*Y2 a*Y2 b*Y2
Measuring point Y3 L*Y3 a*Y3 b*Y3
Average L*pane Y = (L*Y1 + L*Y2 + L*Y3)/3 a*pane Y = (a*Y1 + a*Y2 + a*Y3)/3 b*pane Y = (b*Y1 + b*Y2 + b*Y3)/3

X3 Y3

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2 2

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X1 Y1
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X Y
Key
X pane X
Y pane Y

Figure 2 — Example of measurements undertaken at a minimum of three points

for each pane representing the colour difference

The ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* values shall be calculated based on the difference between the average values for each
pane, in accordance with Equations (5), (6) and (7), respectively.

ΔL* = L*(pane Y) − L*(pane X) (5)

Δa* = a*(pane Y) − a*(pane X) (6)

Δb* = b*(pane Y) − b*(pane X) (7)

where X is the reference pane.

The values of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* shall meet the requirements given in 3.3.

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ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

The value of ΔEab * shall be calculated from the ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* values calculated from Equations (5), (6)
and (7) using Equation (4).

3.3 Requirements for colour

The values of ΔL*, Δa*, Δb* and ΔEab * are determined in accordance with 3.1 and 3.2 and shall meet the
requirements given in Table 2.

Table 2 — Requirements for colour

ΔL* ≤5,0
Δa* ≤5,0
Δb* ≤5,0
ΔEab * ≤6,0

3.4 Angle dependency of colour

The colour of solar-control glass, particularly that with a high selectivity, varies with the angle of observation.
These variations can only be measured in a laboratory on small samples and shall not be undertaken in situ.
Therefore, this part of ISO 11479 reflects colour measurements at normal incidence angles only.

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 ISO 11479-2:2011(E)

Annex A
(informative)

Perception, quantification and measurement of colour

A.1 Perception of colour

The perception of colour can be very subjective and linked to the impression and perception of the individual,
the sensitivity of the eye being a very personal characteristic.

A variety of conditions affect how a colour looks, for instance when observing the façade of a building from the
outside, including:

— luminosity, e.g. a dark overcast sky might reveal colour differences not observed under direct sunlight;

— distance and angle of observation;

— type and colour of mullions and transoms used in the façade;

— distance between two adjacent glass panes;

— the eye of the observer;

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— internal conditions, e.g. the absence of lighting in the building, i.e. dark background, may increase the
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perception of colour differences;

— external conditions, e.g. the presence ISO

of other buildings that may be reflected by the glass.
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Care should be taken to avoid observing the façade under conditions which are not representative for a building
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“in use”. Alternatively, due account should be taken of these factors during the assessment.

A.2 Quantification of colour

As noted in A.1, a visual observation of colour invariably has a subjective element. Therefore, it is very
important to be able to quantify the colour of a façade in order to develop an approach that is independent
of this subjectivity. Various methods have been devised in the past for quantifying colour and expressing it
numerically with the aim of making it easier and more accurate.

The method used in this part of ISO 11479 is the L*a*b* colour space, defined by the CIE in 1976. As the colour
of an object is dependent upon the light source, the standard illuminant adopted by this part of ISO 11479 is
D65 (representing average daylight) and the angle of observation is 10°.

The L*a*b* colour space (also referred to as CIELAB) is one of the most popular colour spaces for measuring
object colour and is widely used in a variety of fields. It provides a procedure for evaluating uniform colour
differences in relation to visual differences and, moreover, it enables colour to be quantified.

This colorimetric system can be visualized by a three-dimensional colour space, where every colour can be
represented by a set of three coordinates: L*, a* and b*, where L* indicates the lightness and a* and b* the
chromaticity coordinates. Positive values of a* show the red direction, and negative values the green direction,
whereas positive values of b* show the yellow direction and negative values the blue direction. The centre is
achromatic, i.e. neutral.

NOTE The parameters L*, a* and b* can be used for quantifying the aesthetics of a façade, observed from the outside
(in reflection), or to characterize the properties of light transmission through a glass pane.

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