PITTSBURGH – PPG launched a yearlong celebration of DURANAR^® coatings’ 50^th anniversary at A’17, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Conference on Architecture 2017, in Orlando, Florida, April 27-29.

Since their introduction in 1967, Duranar coatings have been specified for countless architectural landmarks around the world, including the Empire State Building in New York, the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Shanghai World Financial Center in China.

Brian Knapp, PPG Director, Coil and Building Products, said PPG chose the AIA Conference on Architecture to kick off the golden-anniversary celebration of Duranar coatings because of their sustained popularity with architects. “The list of architects who have specified Duranar coatings over the past 50 years includes many of the most famous and innovative practitioners,” he said. “Today, we take for granted the ability to design durable, colorful curtain walls and storefronts, but a half-century ago, such designs were made possible only with the introduction of the first fluoropolymer products such as Duranar coatings.”

Visitors to the PPG booth during A’17 saw a retrospective of famous buildings finished with Duranar coatings. There was also an historical timeline tracing from the development of Duranar coatings in the late 1960s through recent innovations such as infrared-reflective (IR-reflective) Duranar ULTRA-COOL^® coatings, color-shifting Duranar VARI-COOL^® coatings, graffiti-resistant Duranar GR coatings and ultra-low-VOC Duranar powder coatings.