GLASS

INTRODUCTION

• Amorphous solid which is often transparent and

has widespread practical, technological, and
decorative usage in things like window panes,
tableware, and optoelectronics.
• The most familiar types of glass are based on the
chemical compound silica (silicon dioxide), the
primary constituent of sand.
• Major component in the rapidly revolving
construction industry.
PROPERTIES OF GLASS

• Transparency • Solar heat gain coefficient

• Strength • Visible transmittance

• U value • Energy efficiency and acoustic

control
• Greenhouse effect

• Workability

• Recyclable
WHY GLASS FACADE?
• It reduces the weight on the foundation and hence
makes the building lighter as compared to constructing
walls

• Gives the property an unobstructed view of the

surrounding

• Glass makes the area look far more spacious, wider

and creates a sense of a 'feel- good' factor with long
windows and brightness

• The right kind of glass reduces energy consumption

Chemical Properties
 GLASS
TYPES AND THEIR PUPROSE
Float Glass: Toughened Glass :
This is produced by annealing the molten glass and is Processed by controlled thermal or chemical
clear and flat. treatments to increase its strength compared with
Available in standard thickness ranging from 2mm to normal glass.
20mm. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression
and the interior into tension.

Tempered glass stairs

Use of float glass at Crystal Palace
railway station, London
Float Glass Toughened Glass

Lippo Centre, Hong Kong

Lutz Haufchild’s Cadenza

Tinted Glass: treated with a material such as a
film or coating, which reduces its ability to
transmit light. Glare reduction is another
important property of tinted glass. Saves energy,
controls solar heat and gives a striking visual
effect
Colorful Palais Des Congres Montreal Canada
Laminated Glass: Laminated glass is a type of safety
glass that holds together when shattered.
In the event of breaking, it is held in place by an interlayer,
typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between its two or
more layers of glass.
The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even
when broken, and its high strength prevents the glass
from breaking up into large sharp pieces.
Tinted Glass Laminated Glass

Call Center office building in Góra

Kalwaria, Poland with a blue body-
tinted glass Novartis Headquarters, Switzerland
Office building forBouygues
Imobiliária in Lisbon, Portugal
Double Glazed Units: These are made
by providing air gap between two glass
panes in order to reduce the heat loss
and gain.
Glass wool: thermal insulation that consists of
intertwined and flexible glass fibers, which
causes it to "package" air, and consequently
make good insulating materials. used as filler or
insulators in buildings, also for soundproofing.
Double glazed units
Double Glazed Units

British Embassy in Poland

Glass blocks: Hollow glass wall blocks are
manufactured as two separate halves and,
while the glass is still molten, the two
pieces are pressed together and annealed.

Flagship
Store,
Shanghai

Optical Glass House

Chromatic glass: This type of glass can control
daylight and transparency effectively. It can be used
in meeting rooms and ICUs.

Photochromatic (light sensitive lamination on glass)

Thermochromatic (heat sensitive

lamination on glass)
Electrochromatic (light sensitive glass the transparency of
which can be controlled by electricity switch.)
The Polideportivo, San Indioteria, Spain
 Advantages of Using Glass Disadvantages of Using Glass

It is a very Light weight building material hence

It is a very costly material and has to be handled
helps in reducing the dead load of the Building.
with care.

It offers unobstructed views thus making the

It requires regular cleaning. In high rises
interiors look big. When used in the exteriors it
external cleaning and maintenance from can be
helps in bringing the outdoors into the indoors.
very challenging.

When used as curtain walling in the façade the

Extensive use of glass might result in both
interiors are flooded with natural light throughout
psychological and actual security concerns.
the day thus increasing the working efficiency of
its occupants.

The external glass is treated so as to reduce

glare, prevent heat absorption and resistance to
UV light. This helps in making the building energy
efficient.
Glazing systems with pressure Truss mullions with
plates horizontal arms are
Insulated glazing units and in used to provide
simple sky lights are generally lateral and vertical
clamped on all four edges using a support to a glazed
pressure plate which is screwed entrance. Bolted
into the rafter or purlin. stainless steel
Setting blocks are provided on the fittings are used
lower edge of the pane to resist with eight bolts
the component of the weight
acting in the plane of the glass.
Glass Façade Systems
CURTAIN WALL STICK SYSTEM

Stick Curtain Walling (SWC) may be defined as non-load

bearing walls, usually suspended in front of structural
steel or concrete framing. The term “stick” refers to the
factory-cut mullions and transoms which are transported
to site as loose bars and sticks. However it is possible to
assemble them into a ladder frame often referred to as
“ladders” for quicker site assembly.
Advantages:
•Wide availability of system choice on the market at very
competitive prices and short lead-in times
•Suited for angular or complex facades
•Slighlines are slimmer than Unitized Curtain Walling
•Quicker production processes in the factory
•Sequence of the building can be changed quickly
Unitized Curtain Walls
This is the most advanced façade technology which involves extreme care and
sophisticated calculation. A glass and aluminum curtain wall fabricated in a
factory or in controlled working conditions are installed as panel system in the
building is generally referred as unitized curtain wall systems
Noted advantages :
Promotes quality on the finished output and rapid closure of the building.
Minimal site operation and shortens the construction duration.
The panels can be reused in case of a building demolition or a refurbishment.
The aluminum frame is typically in filled with glass and panels, which provides
an architecturally pleasing building
Units are assembled & glazed in factory or in controlled shop condition thus
have a better quality.
Full pressure equalized drainage system to eliminate water leakage.
Provision for tolerating the building movement caused by expansion, wind
forces or any displacement of building frames.
Weather tightness (Higher resistance to air and water infiltration).
Moisture control by providing proper drainage system to drain any condensation
water and provision for a vapor barrier to insulate
and keep the internal surfaces warmer.
Glass Fin
Glass fin-supported facades still represent one of the most
transparent forms of structural glass facades, and are an
especially economical solution at lower spans.
Glass-fin systems are quite simple in concept, utilizing a glass
fin set perpendicular to the glass pane at each vertical line of
the glass grid. The most challenging aspect of a glass-fin wall
occurs when the span is too great to be accommodated by a
single piece fin, and a splice detail must be developed to create
a fin comprised of multiple glass pieces. Early systems used
patch plates to fix the glass and fins together. Spider fittings are
frequently used in this application today.
Glass is a transparent material seen by the light reflected from
its surface. Thus, transparency in glass-fin walls is often
compromised by the banding effect caused by the reflected
light from the glass fin’s perpendicular relation to the glass
plane. These reflections are highly sensitive to angular
variation.
Typical splice joint detail at the glass fin. Note the drilled
point fixings that tie glass to the fin. A thin horizontal
tensile element is used here to restrict the back edge of
the fin from rotation and lateral buckling.
Cable Net System
A cable-net system comprises of pre-stressed horizontal and
vertical cables, which are typically configured as an orthogonal
grid.
As the transparency level of the building is maximised by
making use of the cable-net system, architects developed more
sophisticated configurations for the glass facade.
There are two main configurations of cable-net namely, flat and
curved cable-nets.
Both configurations are geometrically complex, especially the
double-curved nets, and produce a unique building facade. The
pre-stressed cables of the flat cable-net system span between
two supports in the same plane.
The flexibility of the cable-net was utilised to form a curved
glass facade which is more attractive, also possessing a higher
lateral stiffness.
Double Skin Façade System

The double-skin facade is a system of building

consisting of two skins, or facades, placed in such a
way that air flows in the intermediate cavity.
The ventilation of the cavity can be natural, fan
supported or mechanical.
Apart from the type of the ventilation inside the cavity,
the origin and destination of the air can differ depending
mostly on climatic conditions, the use, the location, the
occupational hours of the building and the HVAC
strategy.
The glass skins can be single or double glazing units
with a distance from 20 cm up to 2 metres. Often, for
protection and heat extraction reasons during the
cooling period, solar shading devices are placed inside
the cavity.
Construction
Details
In the following glazed enclosures, four-bolt and two-
bolt “spiders” are used to provide gravity and lateral
support to the glazing.
Increased bending stiffness in mullions can be achieved by
using small diameter cable-stays. Mullions can also be
formed only from cables.
Cables are tensioned to maintain the stiffness of the
element under reversal of loading. If this was not done, a
load which put the cable into compression would result in
a slack cable and a more flexible element for this load
case.
Manufacturers and Cost
The glass prices in India are calculated in terms of
thickness of the glass and its rate per square feet.
Some of the lead manufacturers of glass in
India –
1. Asahi India Glass - Core Business and
Products: Automotive Glass, Architectural
Glass, Solar Glass Consumer Glass
2. Saint Gobain Sekurit - Core Business and
Products: Float Glass, Automotive glass,
Glass containers etc
3. Gujarat Borosil - Core Business and
Products: Container Glass, Tinted Glass,
Automotive glass, Architectural Glass
4. Binani Industries - Core Business and
Products: Fiber Glass and Composites
5. Borosil Glass Works - Core Business and
Products: Consumer, Lighting, Low Iron
Solar Glass, Scientific and Industrial glass
 Environmental Effects
• The combustion of natural gas/fuel oil and the
decomposition of raw materials during the melting lead
to the emission of CO2. This is the only greenhouse
gas emitted during the production of glass.
•Sulphur dioxide (SO2) from the fuel and/or from
decomposition of sulphate in the batch
materials can contribute to acidification.
•Evaporation from the molten glass and
raw materials can cause release of
particles into the atmosphere.
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) due to the high melting
temperatures and in some cases due to
decomposition of nitrogen compounds in the
batch materials also contribute to acidification
and formation of SMOG.
 THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR
PERFORMING ARTS, CHINA

NATIONAL STADIUM,
KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN

LOUVRE PYRAMID, PARIS,

FRANCE

THE LEDGE VIEWING BOXES AT THE

WILLIS TOWER, CHICAGO, USA
Façade Design Ideas
References
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https://thingsinindia.in/glass-companies-in-india/

http://www.understandconstruction.com/glass.html

http://www.enclos.com/service-and-
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