24 results

  • Spandrel Glass Design

    Currently, most spandrel glass in commercial curtain walls comprises insulating glass fabricated using an interior heat strengthened glass lite that…
  • Thinking About Facades featured image

    Thinking About Facades

    There have been three decades of liberating developments in the application of descriptive geometry and freeform design methods, as well as the…
  • Subjective Perception and Objective Measurement featured image

    Subjective Perception and Objective Measurement

    Current glass industry standards provide clear tolerances for readily quantifiable physical properties to assist with the evaluation of visual…
  • Retrofit Options for Historic Facades featured image

    Retrofit Options for Historic Facades

    Building design criteria requires that government buildings be designed for a variety of extreme loads including blast, hurricane, and impact…
  • Renewing Two Saarinen Icons featured image

    Renewing Two Saarinen Icons

    Kresge Auditorium and the MIT Chapel, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1955, are both world renowned works of architecture and powerful symbols…
  • Fully Tempered Glass in Spandrel Applications featured image

    Fully Tempered Glass in Spandrel Applications

    Recent years have seen an increase in the use of insulated glazing units (IGUs) in spandrel applications to visually blend the appearance between the…
  • Designing Structural Laminated Glass featured image

    Designing Structural Laminated Glass

    Laminated glass with standard PVB has long been used for safety and security due to its ability to adhere the broken glass fragments together. As the…
  • Contextual Envelopes featured image

    Contextual Envelopes

    Aesthetic and technical capabilities of facade design have become seemingly endless as building technologies progress. While the capacity to address…
  • Anisotropic Effects in Architectural Glass featured image

    Anisotropic Effects in Architectural Glass

    Iridescence effects, quench marks, leopard marks… The names given to optical anisotropy in toughened and heat-strengthened glass are diverse and…
  • Adaptable Glazing Shields featured image

    Adaptable Glazing Shields

    Today, about 40% of all buildings in the U.S. still have single-pane windows, and ~70% of the existing building stock is estimated to suffer from…
  • The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, LA featured image

    The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, LA

    Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed a 290,000 sf museum celebrating the artistry and technology of film, becoming the world’s first museum and…
  • Undulated Glass Self-shading featured image

    Undulated Glass Self-shading

    The research is structured around complex optical effects of undulated glass and coatings that exhibit high reflectivity, especially at higher…
  • Thermal Stress Analysis in Glass

    The use of glass in windows and curtain walls in residential as well as in commercial buildings needs to be designed very carefully. In addition to…
  • Solar Reflection Mitigation featured image

    Solar Reflection Mitigation

    Glass by nature is a reflective material, and it is well-known and documented that issues of glare can occur due to solar reflection. This phenomenon…
  • Integrating Structure and Cladding featured image

    Integrating Structure and Cladding

    The project represents a successful integration of a glass facade with the primary structure of the building. The choice of the building material is…
  • Feasibility of Measuring Stress in Glass with a SCALP featured image

    Feasibility of Measuring Stress in Glass with a SCALP

    The SCALP device is designed to measure the residual compressive surface stress of glass. As the SCALP does not rely on the birefringence properties…
  • The Glass Failure Prediction Model featured image

    The Glass Failure Prediction Model

    ASTM E 1300 Standard Practice for Determining Load Resistance (LR) of Glass in Buildings defines the load resistance of a glass construction as being…
  • Heat-Treated Glass featured image

    Heat-Treated Glass

    What was once an accepted reality in heat-treated exterior glass, optical disturbances in glass are under increasing scrutiny by developers,…
  • Translation from Concept to Construction featured image

    Translation from Concept to Construction

    Fidelity between the built enclosure and early visualizations is rarely, if ever, an accident. When achieved, it comes as the result of persistent…
  • Corrugated-geometry Copper and Glass Facade featured image

    Corrugated-geometry Copper and Glass Facade

    The subject of this case study is the design and construction of a custom corrugated-geometry facade featuring pre-patinated copper and glass for an…