Privacy or daylight control? Matching smart film to the room

Privacy that changes with the room

Garware formally announced PDLC smart films in April 2026. Its October 22 investor presentation puts a clearer business model around them: film, cut-to-size processing, controllers and on-site application for existing glass. Offices, healthcare and hospitality are among the intended markets. The document also points to the company’s existing film network and relationships with architects and end users. These are company plans and product descriptions, rather than a record of completed installations.

The appeal is easy to understand. A glass meeting room can feel open between meetings, then provide visual separation when people need it. That gives the same space more flexibility. For an installer, the project extends beyond choosing the appearance of a roll: the film, its controls and the way people will use the room need to work together.

PDLC means polymer-dispersed liquid crystal. In a conventional version, electrical power aligns the liquid crystals so the film becomes clearer; without power, light scatters and the glass takes on a frosted appearance. HAVERKAMP describes that behavior for its standard ClickFilm range. Its PNLC-based Reverse version behaves differently, remaining transparent without power and becoming opaque when energized. Even within one product family, the default appearance needs to match the customer’s expectations.

Dimming daylight is another opportunity

HAVERKAMP’s separate ClickFilm Dynamic uses suspended-particle technology to vary light transmission. That is a different proposition from switching a partition to a frosted privacy state. The manufacturer’s product page describes Dynamic as available within laminated glass, with a retrofit solution under development. A broad smart-film brochure should therefore not be read as confirmation that every technology is ready to adhere to an existing window.

There are other approaches to retaining existing glazing. In October 2025, Research Frontiers and AIT announced the Thermolite RetroWAL SPD system, developed with Gauzy, for controllable shading without removing the original glass. That historical announcement establishes a proposed installation approach, not verified present availability or completed-project performance. The practical point is that a retrofit can be a glazing system as well as an applied film.

What the research can tell us

Independent research helps separate the benefits. A 2018 Berkeley Lab review distinguishes switchable technologies and explains how building performance depends on the glazing and how it is controlled. A frosted appearance, a darker tint and a reduction in solar heat gain describe different properties. That review provides technical context, not a test of the current products discussed here.

A 2026 National Cheng Kung University study offers a useful example of the scale of evidence involved. Researchers compared two days with similar outdoor temperatures in a cargo-container house with west-facing PDLC windows. Daily air-conditioning electricity was about 5% lower in the shading state than in the transparent state. That narrow result concerns the tested film and conditions; it is not an annual saving or a performance rating for another manufacturer’s product.

A better way to present the opportunity

Our reading is that smart-film sales become more convincing when they start with a specific benefit. Demonstrate privacy in both states. For daylight control, explain light transmission and solar-performance evidence for the relevant glazing. Specify whether the installation uses adhesive film, a factory laminate or a retrofit glazing assembly.

That creates room for expertise rather than a competition over the broadest promise. A well-matched privacy installation can be valuable because it makes a room more useful, even without a claimed energy payback. A solar-control installation needs evidence suited to that objective. Existing buildings offer opportunities for both; clear explanations help customers understand which benefit they are actually buying.