Structural Glass Architecture Hugh Dutton

Mr. Hugh Dutton

HDA

Abstract

architectural potential of steel structures and glass

skins concieved as a whole.

Introduction
Office Profile Overview
HDA are specialist design consultants on
glazing and structure generally for projects where
these elements are key elements of architectural
composition. HDAs work involves exploring the

Glass Processing Days, 1316 June 99

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Main Frame
Paper Structural Glass Architecture
Structural use of glass has seen a considerable
popularity during the last decade, and in particular
thanks to the use of more sophisticated point fixed
glazing systems. The exploitation of these systems
has reached extensive possibilities through the
greater understanding of the structural potential
of glass itself and the analytical techniques made
possible with computers. Our own phobias on the
fragility of glass is gradually becoming replaced
by an acceptation of its structural potential. This
liberation of glass as an architectural component
has led to a greater potential in the articulation of
wind bracing structures in cable, steel and
glass itself. The understanding of the symbiotic
relationship between these bracing structures and
the glass leads to a development in a change of
attitude toward these two traditionally distinct
domains glass belonged to cladding and
curtain-wall trades while structure belonged to
a separate steel trade. The building industrys
professional designers and contractors are
adapting their working methods to the new potentials of glass and its bracing structure in
architecture and a different relationship within the
industry.
Point-fixed glass first appeared with Pilkington
Glasss point fixed glass system used on the
Farnborough office building by Arup Associates
and Sir Norman Fosters Swindon Renault factory
in the early 1980s. Following these projects the
monumental greenhouses at the La Villette
Science museum was a significant development

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Session 10

Structural use of glass has seen a considerable

popularity during the last decade, and in particular
thanks to the use of more sophisticated point fixed
glazing systems. The exploitation of these systems
has reached extensive possibilities through the
greater understanding of the structural potential
of glass itself and the analytical techniques made
possible with computers. Our own phobias on the
fragility of glass is gradually becoming replaced
by an acceptation of its structural potential.
This liberation of glass as an architectural
component has led to a greater potential in the
articulation of wind bracing structures in cable,
steel, and glass itself. The understanding of the
symbiotic relationship between these bracing
structures and the glass leads to a development
in a change of attitude toward these two
traditionally distinct domains glass belonged to
cladding and curtain-wall trades while structure
belonged to a separate steel trade.
This paper, prepared by structural glass
designer Hugh Dutton, reviews the technical
development of a ball joint point fixed glass
system and bracing structure design. An introductory discussion is be followed by illustration
of a few key international case studies spread out
over the last decade as examples of the techniques adaptation and application.

Session 10

in the structural use of the glass itself in

conjunction with tensile cable and steel structures
as wind bracing. The detailing of the glass
connections developed on the project were based
on the concept of protecting the glass from its
own brittle nature whilst fully exploiting its
structural qualities. The la Villette project initiated
research and development of the point supported
glazing system with spherical bearings incorporated into the bolts in response to this
design concept. It is based on a clear analytical
approach that allows the designer to predict
exactly how the assembly functions and thereby
evaluate only the specific load paths that the detail
is designed to withstand. The detailing work on the
glass connections led to the invention of an
articulated bolt which involved the incorporation
of a spherical bearing into the glass plane itself
as a way of predicting that the glass could only
be loaded in its plane for dead loads while local
wind loads are resisted around the hole
perpendicular to the plane. Any local twisting
effects at the supporting hole or other parasitic
loads incurred by supporting structure movement
are excluded.
Since the point fixed systems remove mullions
and framing from the plane of the facade the
architectural expression depends now as much
on the geometrical configuration and structural
performance of the wind bracing systems as it
does on the glass support system itself. The
symbiotic aspect of these two parts of the facades
is critical then in the architectural composition.

The La Villette articulated bolt detail was

developed after the decision to use a cable truss
to resist wind loads on the glass of the
greenhouses. Rice applied non-linear computer
methods to this particularly light structural type to
demonstrate its feasibility as a glass support
structure. The truss is composed of purely tension
components without the typical compression or
bending members from near to the glass plane
where they would have compromised the transparency. The truss deflects when the load is
applied as the cables adapt to a different loading
and the new pivoting bolt detail allows the glass
plane to move as the truss adapts to a different
configuration without affecting the glass itself.

Glass Atrium, Channel Four Headquarters,

London 19921994

Case Studies
Greenhouses, Cite des Sciences et Industrie,
La Villette, Paris 19811986
Image
Client: Channel 4; Architects: Richard Rogers and Partners;
Engineers :Ove Arup and Ptns; Contractor: Eiffel Constructions
Metalliques, with design and engineering consultant RFR

Image
Client: Etablissement Public du Parc de La Villette; Architect:
Adrien Fainsilber; Facade Design and Engineering: RFR;
Contractor: CFEM (now Eiffel Constructions Metalliques)

504

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The channel 4 atrium is employs glass curved

to a cylindrical shape and suspended as a curtain.
The glass bolts and connection details are direct
applications of the ones developed at La Villette.
The wind bracing structure is a complex doubly
curved two-way cable net tensioned between a
series of cantilevering steel outriggers at roof level
and the ground slab in concrete. All dead loads
in the glass are resolved in the glass curtain itself.
In this respect it is truly a Curtain Wall hung from
the cantilever outriggers. It is braced against wind
loads by connecting the glass to the cable net
with small compression struts articulated at each
end. At the glass end of the struts cast H
assembles receive the articulated bolts. The cross
bar in these H assemblies slide to allow the glass
curtain to breathe as it responds to wind load,

thereby ensuring that it does not behave as a shell

and resist the loads itself, that instead it is the
cable net that resists the wind load as designed.
In the corners the silicone in the joints is used to
brace them locally. . Eiffels detailed engineering
analysis of the system includes structural
modelling of the silicone joints to fully understand
their performance.

A 16m wide by 24m high curtain of fritted glass

is freely suspended from a truss at roof level and
is as minimally connected to the surrounding
atrium as possible for wind loads. The glass is
stabilised by a fan shaped array of prestressed
cables whose configuration was inspired by the
semicircular plan shape of the floors defining the
atrium void.. The cables are tied back to the
edges of the concrete floors. At each level, the
cables form a stiff support line close to the facade
plane which is then connected to the glass itself
by a series of small struts.

Glass Atrium, 50 Avenue Montaigne,

Paris 19911993

Session 10

Oxford House Podium Atrium Hong Kong

19971999

Image
Client: SNC Avenue Montaigne, Arc Union; Architects:
Glaiman, Epstein, Vidal; Facade Design and Engineering: RFR;
Contractor: Eiffel Constructions Metalliques

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Image: Photo
Client Swire; Arch. Wong & Ouyang; Facade Consultants:
Meinhardt Faade Technology; Contractor URC with Hugh
Dutton

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Session 10

The ground floor podium of the Oxford House

tower is enclosed on three sides with an 11.5m
high facade in suspended point fixed glass with
high tension stainless steel vertical rod trusses as
wind bracing. The tension rod truss system utilises
two prestressed catenaries that carry inward and
outward wind loading. Loads are transferred from
the glass through articulated bolts to compression
struts. The dead load of the glass is carried by
top hung vertical tension rods connected to the
point fixed castings. The truss junctions consist of
a combination of fabricated, machined and cast
components.
The trusses are tensioned between the
concrete floor slab and steel roof trusses.
Movements due to dead loading, creep, live
loading and wind loading on the ground floor and
the roof, create movements in the trusses which
affect pretension loads and the response of the
system to wind. Analysis by URC, the glass
contractor included a full three dimensional
simulation of the truss system and the supporting
steel trusses in the roof void.

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Man Yee Skylight: Hong Kong 19981999

Image: Photo
Client: ; Arch. Rocco; Facade Consultant: Heitmann &
Associates; Contractor: URC with Hugh Dutton

The skylight is a series of 1.6m independent

portal frame units each spanning a width of 6m
with an overall length of 35m. Each unit is
longitudinally discontinuous to avoid the entire
skylight acting as a glass beam that would resist
movements and deflections of the supporting
concrete building. Local wind codes dictate
severe loading as much as the uplift force of 4.84
Kpa.
The entire structure is in glass without any steel
framing. Each glass portal consists of 19 mm clear
tempered glass vertical fins, a 12mm tempered
and 8mm heat strengthened laminate roof and 15
mm toughened lateral panels. The face glass for
the lateral glass and the roof glass are all point
supported from the glass portal using articulated
bolts on cast fingers. The vertical fins have a
depth of 350 mm while the horizontal fin has a
depth of 500mm.
The fins are stabilised from lateral buckling by
the face glass and a cable restraint at mid span
of the lower free edge of the main horizontal
member. The roof glass plays a safety role by
restraining the roof and fin from collapse by
assuming a catenary mode if the supporting fin
breaks. This condition was simulated with a full 3d
finite element model that included glass links.

Session 10

Columbia University Lerner Hall,

New York New York 19941999

Image: Perspective
Client: Columbia University of New York; Arch. Bernard
Tschumi Gruzen Samton associated architects; Design
Consultant: Hugh Dutton; Engineers: Ove Arup NY; Contractor:
Eiffel

The project is the first application in the United

States of the articulated point fixed glazing
system. The building has two wings that enclose
a transparent central social and circulation space
as a compositional contrast to the masonry on
either side. The structure spans between the two
wings and the glass encloses the void between
them. The trusses and steel ramp structures
express the activity and movement ramp zone
itself. The glass is simply and minimally
cantilevered from the ramps. The angular
configuration of the ramps is carried through into
the layout of all of the components of and the
glass grid itself.
An inclined facade truss supports the outer
edge of the ramps while the inner one is
suspended from another, much heavier triangulated trellis truss at roof level. The ramps
themselves are an intricate mesh texture of plates

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Image: Perspective

assembled diagonally. Walking surfaces on the

ramps are also in glass. They are made from
laminated glass tiles with the upper sheet
toughened and covered in an anti-slip treatment.
A dust of tiny glass beads are laid on the top
surface and then flamed to vitrify them to the
surface. The facade glass plane is fixed to the
ramps with cantilever arms arranged as a series
of X points punctuating the elevation. The clear
toughened laminate glass units are fixed to the
end of the arm supports using articulated bolted
connections. Each cantilever arm X consists of
two lower gravity arms that support the dead
weight of the glass and wind arms that support
the wind loads only. Each glass is simply and
independently supported, and any relative
movement between the arms or between the

507

ramps can not be transferred into the glass as a

load. This concept is carried rigorously through to
all of the details. In the case of the gravity arms,
one glass unit is suspended from the bracket and
the other rests on it. For the wind arms, the end
bracket is used to fix a group of small articulated
struts that can only resist wind loads perpendicular to the glass plane.

Image: Perspective

In the same spirit as the work with Rice at La

Villette, this project also is based on the visual
expression of the critical functional details. The
details are designed to demonstrate how each
one works. The performance of each one is
carefully studied and drawn with attention to the
particularity and specificity of its application.

Image: Axo

Session 10

Osaka Maritime Museum, Osaka,

Japan, 19932000
The glass/arm connections are castings
equipped with adjustment devices for fine tuning
corrections and in particular angular correction to
compensate for differences in arm angles. A
spherical bearing at the core of each piece
permits a rotational capacity. These adjustment
devices are also used to correct for a slight nonalignment of the ramp slope with the glass grid
that is the result of the two mid slope landings
required by the New York building codes. The
castings are important components of the design
because they resolve in a single piece the
consequences of the geometric complexity. The
cast fabrication technique allows an almost total
freedom of shape. The casting method gives
these key parts a unique identity specific to this
project. It allows them to express in an almost
sculptural form the resolution of the overall
geometric composition at a small hand-sized
scale. The actual casting process began with
three dimensional computer modelling at Hugh
Dutton Associates office in Paris. The models were
then communicated directly to the casting mould
tool manufacturer to be made into moulds with the
electronic data. The casting technique employed
is called the lost-wax method. It involves the
mould tool being used to create a wax version of
the piece onto which is formed a ceramic
carapace. The ceramic shells are negative
versions of the piece and once the wax is melted
from inside them they are filled with a liquid metal
pour of the stainless steel. After a grit blasting
cleaning process the pieces are machined for the
necessary bolted and threading connections.

508

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Image: Perspective
Client, Osaka Port and Harbour Bureau; Architect: Paul
Andreu; Engineers: Ove Arup and Partners International Ltd.
and Tohata; Facade design consultant: Hugh Dutton

The 73m diameter hemispherical dome is an

ambitious application of the point fixed glazing
system given the specific local design conditions

7: Summary
Future considerations and potential architectural developments: Light Skins, Structure and
Glass
We can consider a building envelopes
fundamental technical components as Structure
and Skin. The structure supports it and the skin
keeps the weather out. Lighter, more compact and
efficient structures allow the skin to play a larger
and more responsive role to light, the critical
ingredient in the perception of architecture. The
skin can become a filter to light -either as a
transparent, translucent or even a variable
chameleon type surface that can change its
nature.
Technology has permitted a slow and gradual
transformation of buildings from solid structural
walls with only small holes for light to penetrate
through, to thin envelopes which modulate and
control light and architectural transparency as well
as energy gains and losses.

Structure
Technological advances in the building
industry and developments in structural
engineering have removed structure from walls.
High performance materials such as reinforced
concrete, steel etc. have allowed efficient
structures, reducing the quantity of it. Engineering

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developments have through a greater understanding of how buildings behave, further contributed to lightweightness. In particular the use
of computers which enable more interactive
structures to be conceived and analysed. Nonlinear analysis methods exploit computers by
doing multitudes of reiterative calculations for a
structure simulating its change in shape as it
reacts to load. This closer analysis of how
structures behave allows designers to better
understand the nature of structures and to further
exploit their potential than would be the case with
more primitive analysis methods.
These building technology developments lead
to a concentration of structure It gets thinner and
becomes more efficient. Columns get smaller,
bearing walls disappear and generally structure
becomes lighter weight.
Skin

The removal of structure from the walls has

allowed the skin to become more ephemeral
Transparent or translucent because it no longer
has to hold the building up. The skin lets in more
light and allows it to play a more larger part in the
architectural composition. Developments in glass
technology have created new possibilities for the
skin beyond letting in more light.
Some of the recent light surface technologies
give a potential to the skins surface. They can
allow the designer better responses to solar
energy considerations and a larger scope of
architectural expression. The glass surface can
become translucent or semi-transparent in other
words, somewhere between opaque and fully
transparent. In this grey area, the surface both lets
light in or filter its passage becoming a luminous
light diffusing surface.
In the case of transparent surfaces in image
can be seen through the glass because the light
rays are largely unaltered as they pass through
the surface. Several treatments that are readily
available commercially alter the transparent nature
of glass but still allow an image to be perceived.
These treatments are largely destined at improving the solar reflective or absorption
characteristics of the glass. These treatments are
metallic reflective films, body tinting, or light
selective such as dichroic films.
In Semi-Transparent cases the light surfaces
that are partially obscured or filtered using a mesh
pattern or texture. Coatings or treatments are
applied to the surface of the glass which partially
affect the transparency. These treatments are
fritted glass or vitrified pigments, patterned or
perforated sheet interlayers sandwiched between
two sheets of glass, or printed solar cell glasses
and also translucent stone laminate.
Some of the most exciting recent developments
in glass technology are chameleon glasses or
glasses that can change their transparent or

509

Session 10

and the climate of the Osaka region. The dome

skin is fixed using articulated point fixings braced
by X shaped ties that also provide shear bracing
for the lattice shell structure in tubular steel. The
glass itself is a laminate with perforated metal
sheeting to provide solar protection and a safety
membrane in the event of breakage. The point
fixed system attaches the glass in individual
lozenge shaped panels of four glass units. Each
panel is considered much like a fish scale in that
they are suspended but not fixed laterally so as
to permit structural deflections and movements of
the main dome structure without attracting load in
the glass itself.
The perforated metal holes vary in size as a
function of the solar radiation projected onto the
dome. At the summit of the dome, where the
protection requirement is the greatest, only 10%
of the panels are transparent and at the base the
percentage of holes increases until the glass is
100% transparent. The pattern of shading is
manifested in contours whose shape is
determined by an historical analysis of the Osaka
weather charts and solar exposure data. This
random and original pattern is employed as an
architectural counterpoint to the geometric rigour
of the dome structure.

translucent nature. Most of these types of glass

are still undergoing research and development
and are not available on the commercial market.
They are liquid crystal interlayers, thermochromic
interlayers, photochromic coatings and interlayers,
or more recent holographic diffractive or angle
selective films
Though some of these glass treatments,
coatings and interlayers are not yet commercially
available or applicable to point fixed glazing, they
offer interesting architectural potential and an
intelligent technical response to current concerns
about energy performance of buildings.

References

Session 10

Intelligent Glass Faades, Andrea Compagno

Birkhauser, 1995
Structural Glass Peter Rice/Hugh Dutton E.F.Spon,
1995
Amazing Glass, Stephen Salkowitz, Stephan Le Sourd,
Progressive Architecture, n6, June 1994
Fenestration 2000, DA Button, R. Dunning, Pilkington
Glass et UK Dept. Of Energy, 1989
A wall for all seasons, M.M. Davies, RIBA Journal,
Fvrier 1981
Architecture of a well tempered environment,
R. Banham, Architectural Press, 1969
Glass in Architecture, M. Wiggington, Phaidon, 1995
A+U September 1997.

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