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“…do you want first to build scaffolding out of steel, visible, preferably naked and powerful…”
“…do you want first to build scaffolding out of steel, visible, preferably naked and
powerful…”
from wall to skin
The Evolution of Transparency: IRON
Palm House
Richard Turner & Decimus Burton
London, 1844-48
Passage Jouffroy
Paris, 1847
The Evolution of Transparency:
Releasing the External Wall from its Loadbearing function
Carson Pirie Scott
Louis Sullivan
Chicago, 1899-1904
Fagus Works
Walter Gropius
Altfred an der Leine, 1911
Paxton:
Crystal Palace foreshadows industrial curtain walls
Gropius:
Bauhaus early steel and glass curtain wall
SOM
Lever House: early 1950s curtain wall (Ferriss rendering)
Steiff Works
Giengen
1903-11
Façade Elevation & Section
The Evolution of Transparency:
Daylighting and Thermal Control
The Evolution of Transparency:
Daylighting and Thermal Control
Open Air School
Jan Duiker
Amsterdam, 1927-28
Van Nelle Tobacco Factory
Johannes Brinkman
Amsterdam, 1926-30
The Evolution of Transparency:
The Glass House
Glass House
Philip Johnson
New Canaan, CT
1948
Eames House
Charles & Ray Eames
Pacific Palisades, CA
1949
The Evolution of Transparency:
Daylight & Darkness
Notre-Dame-du-Haut
Le Corbusier
Ronchamp
1951
Church of Light
Tadao Ando
Ibaraki, Japan
1987-9
Crystal Cathedral
Philip Johnson & John Burgee
Garden Grove, CA
1980
Bruno Taut:
Glass pavilion (1914) as harbinger of enlightened culture
Foster:
Reichstag dome as modern version of same theme
The Evolution of Transparency:
Translucency
Goetz Art Gallery
Herzog & de Meuron
Munich, 1994
Lloyd’s Building: Façade Detail
Richard Rogers
London, 1982-6
Bregenz Art Gallery: Façade
Peter Zumthor
1997
Les 3 Cartier
The Evolution of Transparency:
Transparency
The Evolution of Transparency:
Transparency
Two Views of the Celia Franca Centre Demonstrate the Dynamic of the Curtain Wall
Harrison and Abramovitz: Socony Mobil Building with steel
panels.
Richard Meier:
Getty Center's metal panel system.
The Evolution of the Curtain Wall:
Materials
I.M. Pei:
Hancock Building as reflective, crystalline surface
Cesar Pelli
Pacific Design Center sculptural reflective surface
Mies van der Rohe
Seagrams Building metal and glass "woven" grid
Stubbins
Citicorp Center with metal and glass curtain wall.
Seagram Building
• Ithaca, NY
• Opaque spandrels create a ribbon effect on the façade of the building.
• Colored or tinted glass used to change the appearance of the building as well as the quality of light filtering into the building.
Foster
Willis Faber Dumas
building literally hangs curtain of transparent/reflective glass
Roche & Dinkeloo
UN Hotel
uses curtain wall to reinforce abstract gridded geometry
Nouvel:
Foundation Cartier explores issues of transparency
Grimshaw:
Waterloo Terminal uses "structural" glass without mullions
Glass is a supercooled liquid. It has no fixed melting point and an open non-crystalline microstructure
• Glass begins with the following mix or “frit”
– ~69% silicon dioxide (very fine sand) • melts at 1700°C but is too gooey to work
– ~17% soda ash (alkaline) • reduces melting temperature (900°C) making a more
workable mixture – ~11% lime (and magnesia)
• resists attack by water that would destroy the glass – ~ 3% alumina, iron oxide and manganese oxide
• color, stability
The Manufacture of Glass:
Composition
Crown glass
Cylinder Glass
The Evolution of Transparency: The Crystal Palace
Joseph Paxton
London, 1851
Façade Details
The Evolution of Transparency: The Crystal Palace
Joseph Paxton
London, 1851
Vent Detail Glazed with 900,000 SF of cylinder glass on a cast iron structure (in 17 weeks)
• plate glass: cast glass, rolled out in a pan, polished
• drawn glass: pulled vertically through rollers
• float glass: pulled horizontally over
• annealed glass: cooled slowly under controlled conditions
• tempered glass: re-heated to 1200°F and cooled quickly so the glass on the surfaces is placed in compression and interior in tension (glass contracts as it cools) (4X’s stronger than annealed)
• laminated glass: sandwich of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between two sheets of glass and bonded under heat and pressure (can be colored or patterned)
The Manufacture of Glass:
Types and terms
Glass (Methods of Manufacturing)
Making Float Glass
Pilkington Brothers, Ltd. started production of float glass in 1959
• based on the fact that the specifically lighter of two non-mixable liquids (molten glass) will float on the heavier liquid (tin)
• produces a continuous ribbon between 3 and 4 meters wide
• thickness is 6-7 mm naturally (less by speeding, more by slowing—up to 35 mm)
1500°C 1100°C 1050°C 600°C 500°C 200°C
<------------------------------------------200m--------------------------------!
manufactured in standard thicknesses: 3/32” = single-strength 1/8” = double-strength up to 1” thick
glass is usually warehoused in 6 meter lengths (less than 4 meters wide)
Structural Glass:
Laminated Glass
laminated safety glass: the intermediate layer retains the pieces of broken glass in case of a break
Tempered Glass
1. How to support the weight of the glass
2. How to support the glass against wind pressure and suction.
3. How to isolate glass from structural deflections of frame and the frame from the mullions
4. How to allow independent expansion and contraction of glass and frame
5. How to avoid glass contacting any other materials that could scratch or stress it.
The Manufacture of Glass:
Design considerations for large-light glazing systems
The Evolution of Curtain Walls
Examples
structural support
inside
outside
General Motors Jespersen Office Block Lever Building
plan
section
Lever Building, New York
SOM 1952
Load-bearing rolled steel sections concealed behind folded stainless steel sheet.
Single pane glass held in place by putty
spandrel panel
The Evolution of Curtain Walls
Examples
plan
section
Jespersen Office Block, Copenhagen,
Arne Jacobsen, 1955
wood supports
green glass spandrel panels
The Evolution of Curtain Walls
Example: Jespersen Office Block
plan
section
General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Michigan
Eero Saarinen, 1949-56
Totally prefabricated curtain wall
Synthetic, permanently elastic rubber profiles (neoprene)
The Evolution of Curtain Walls
Example: General Motors Technical Center
Types of Cladding Systems
• Storefront – inserting glass frame into the building fabric
• Standard Curtainwall – engineered system – (shear block mullions, pressure bar, beauty spot)
• Custom Curtainwall
• Structural Glazing – glass walls
Curtain Wall Systems
Stick System In the system, the wall is installed piece by piece.
The mullion members are installed first, followed by the transoms, the panels, and then the glazing or window units. The stick system was used extensively in the early years of metal curtain wall development, and is still in wide use.
Unit System The wall is composed entirely of large framed units pre-
assembled at the factory. The vertical edges of the units join to form mullion members, top and bottom members join to form horizontal rails.
Unit and Mullion System The wall system is a compromise between the
stick and unit system. First, the mullion members are installed separately, then pre-assembled framed units are placed between them.
Column Cover and Spandrel System In the system, the column cover
is installed first which may be one or two stories in height, then the long spandrel panels which span between the column cover are placed between them. Finally, the glazing infills are fixed with the frame.
Stick Systems • tubular metal mullions
and rails assembled piece by piece on site.
Lever Building, New York SOM 1952
The Evolution of Curtain Walls
Example: Lever Building
• The framing panels of a curtain wall may be supported in one of two ways: – by the columns alone – by the columns as well
as by spandrel beams or the edges of floor slabs
whether the primary building structure is:
– structure steel frame
– reinforced concrete
Glazing Construction:
Curtain Wall
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
inside
outside
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
The Assembly of Curtain Walls
Unit Systems preassembled, framed wall units
Unit and Mullion Systems • one or two-story high
mullion are installed before preassembled wall units are lowered into place behind the mullion.
Glazing Construction: Assembly
• On site glass elements are
either individually fixed to a loadbearing construction or they are joined together to form a coherent, self-supporting structure.
• Owing to the transparency of the material, the discontinuity at joints is particularly noticeable so alignment is critical.
• Glass elements must be connected in such a way that the filtering or sealing functions are properly fulfilled.
Unitized systems
Terminal One of the Toronto International Airport
• a unitized system with silicone on four sides • design flexibility with multiple interconnecting
panel types
The Celia Franca Centre National Ballet School in Toronto KPMB Architects and Goldsmith Borgal
Column-cover-and-spandrel systems • these systems consist of vision-glass assemblies and
spandrel units supported by spandrel beams between exterior columns clad with cover sections.
