Engineering Transparency Current international trends in the use of glass in buildings.

A report submitted to the Institution of Structural Engineers Educational Trust. The report was
prepared with the financial support of the Pai Lin Li Travel Award 2008.
Dr Mauro Overend
Lecturer in Building Engineering Design
Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, University of Cambridge CB2 1PZ
Tel. 01223 332 659; Fax. 01223 332 662; Email: mo318@cam.ac.uk

Abstract

The use of glass in buildings is evolving rapidly in response to end-user requirements of lightness,
robustness and energy efficiency. This paper seeks to identify the current engineering challenges
in this field and describes how recent technological innovations in glass design, manufacture and
construction are creating opportunities for using glass in novel ways. The findings in this paper are
largely based on a series of visits to centres of excellence in glass research design and
manufacture across Europe. Each visit consisted of a tour round the facilities, and a structured
interview with at least one person from the host institution / company. The visits often included
additional site visits close to the host institution / company. The paper therefore provides a
macroscopic account, rather than a narrow detailed view, of the current trends and possible future
developments in this exciting field.
1
Introduction
Glass has fascinated people ever since its discovery more than 4000 years ago. Since then it has
become a ubiquitous material in buildings and its use has evolved rapidly over the last 30 years.
There has been a noticeable shift from traditional small window infill panels, to large area structural
glass and solar energy products. These novel applications are the result of a quick succession of
technological innovations in heat treatment processes, bending techniques, laminating materials
and high strength connections that are underpinned by an improved understanding of the
fundamental mechanical and physical properties of glass.
Glass also has a significant economic and environmental impact on the built environment. Glazed
building envelopes constitute up to 30% of capital building costs and the performance of glazing
has a major influence on the space heating, cooling and lighting in buildings that in turn account for
approximately 33% of end-user CO2 emissions. The total commercial glazing market in the UK is
2.9 billion annually and 450million square meters of glazing are used for building envelopes in
Western Europe. Worldwide production of glass has for the last few years increased at 5%
annually, while glass for renewable solar energy applications is increasing at 15% per annum. In
addition glass has a major impact on the comfort and well-being of building occupants, mainly
through the transmission of natural light and the reduction of glare. The safety of building
occupants and pedestrians is also significantly affected by glass. For example, up to 80% of
human injuries from city centre blast events are glass related.
The recent innovations in glass manufacture and engineering create unprecedented opportunities
to design and construct robust, efficient and delightful structures, but in doing so engineers are
faced with equally onerous challenges. The major barrier to progress is the fragmentation of
knowledge which is exacerbated by the notoriously secretive glass industry. Structural
engineering-led research on glass is increasing but still well below the research levels in other
mainstream construction materials. Furthermore, few university curricula include anything more
than a basic introduction to glass. In practice, the lack of detailed standards and guidelines affords
a substantial freedom for developing exciting new products and structures, but it inevitably results
in challenging engineering problems that must often be resolved on a project-by-project basis and
leads to significant national and regional differences in dealing with the same problems.
This paper maps out the current trends in glass engineering and is based on a series of visits to
and interviews with leading manufacturers, designers and researchers conducted by the author
0

and the subsequent exchange of information. During the initial discussions with the interviewees,
the following five themes emerged as the principal areas for innovation, challenges and
opportunities:
1. Dematerialisation - The quest for the all-glass structure which has changed the use of glass from
a cladding material to load bearing elements.
2. Robustness - The need for robust glass elements and structures and the ways in which glass
can sustain heightened threats and extreme events.
3. Blob architecture The ability (or inability) of glass to cope with geometrical complexity and freeform surfaces.
4. Energy efficiency - The role of glass in improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
5. Guidelines and standards The use of national and international standards and guidelines in
glass engineering.
This paper identifies the relevance, the recent innovations, the barriers to further progress and the
future opportunities in each of the above listed areas.
2
Dematerialisation and the quest for maximum transparency
The unique optical qualities of glass were apparent since Roman times and the desirability of large
areas of glass was already evident in the awe inspiring gothic cathedrals (figure 1). By the 17th
century larger areas of high quality transparent glass could be produced, but this required labour
intensive and expensive techniques such as casting of glass followed by manual grinding and
polishing. As a result good quality flat glass could only be produced at high cost which limited its
use to the prestigious buildings of the day (figure 2) and even then panels were limited to relatively
small sizes by todays standards.

Figure 1 - Stained glass windows at Sainte Chapelle, Paris

constructed in 1246.

Figure 2 Typical glazing in

timber frame in 17th Century
building.

The invention of the float process by the Pilkington brothers in the 1950s had a dramatic impact on
the use of glass as for the first time high quality glass could be produced in large sizes at a
relatively low cost. Subsequent innovations aimed at reducing the solid elements in faades
include structural silicone glazing, where glass panels are bonded onto a backing metallic frame by
structural silicone thereby eliminating the external capping piece, and the more recent
development of mechanical fixings where the glass is supported at discrete points by articulated or
flexible stainless steel fittings (figure 3).
1

The transparency, durability, uniformity and ease of maintenance make glass a desirable material,
but there has been a recent divergence in approach between the glass used in building envelopes
and the glass used in installations that do not have any environmental performance requirement to
fulfill (e.g. staircases, internal walls and floors etc.).
In the case of glass intended for building envelopes, the trend for maximum transparency seemed
to reach a climax in the all glass faades of the1990s. Dematerialised faades are still very
desirable due to:
The aspirational qualities of glass clad buildings.
Daylight penetration and the resulting sense of well being for building occupants.
The high durability and low maintenance of glass.
The uniformity and quality of finish.
The improved letability of large percentage glazing buildings probably due to the fact that
buildings are often let when vacant i.e. when full height glazing looks best.

Figure 3 Four point articulated bolted fitting at

the Parc De La Villette, Paris constructed in
1984.

Figure 4 Glass wall used as rain / wind

screen in Central Station Berlin (courtesy of
Steel Construction Institute, RWTH Aachen).

These benefits must however be balanced with the building physics requirements of improving the
energy efficiency of buildings such as reducing the amount of unwanted heat gains and losses
through the building envelope and improving comfort for building occupants by for example
reducing glare. From an environmental performance perspective, there is very little use for the all
glass faade. The notable exceptions are nested thermal spaces, semi-protected / transition
spaces and screens from wind and rain in temperate marine climates where thermal mass and
insulation are less important (figure 4). As a result there have been some noticeable retreats forms
the fully transparent faade.
In glass installations that are not constrained by environmental performance requirements the
quest for full transparency, lightness and the all-glass structure persists. The industry has been
edging closer to this with the recent advances in:

The characterisation of the mechanical properties of glass, in particular the ability to predict
the strength and variability of glass.
The improved quality of laminated glass that leads to less delamination and better long
term performance and appearance.
The development of high performance mechanical connections that seek to reduce the
stress concentrations while improving the post-fracture performance of glass (figure 5).

The development of stiff adhesives and interlayers such as the Sentry Glass Plus interlayer
by DuPont, that enables glass plates to be laminated and lapped together in a similar way
to Glulam timber (figure 6).
The construction of large autoclaves that enable glass to be laminated in large sizes of
3.5m by 15m in Europe and up to 8m by 20m elsewhere.
The development of glass-to-metal bonded fixings that eliminate the need for drilling holes
in glass and reduce the stress concentrations around the joint (figures 7 and 8).

Figures 5a and 5b Enhanced mechanical fixing with triple laminated glass (courtesy of RFR).

Figure 6 Glass bridge constructed from cold bent glass plates laminated with Sentry Glass
Plus interlayer (courtesy of Seele).

Figure 7 Glass staircase (courtesy

of Eckersley O'Callaghan).

Figure 8 Connection detail of glass staircase

showing steel insert bonded to laminated glass
(courtesy of Eckersley O'Callaghan).

These innovations have enabled glass to be used as load bearing elements where the glass
contributes to the load bearing capacity of the structure, but despite these advances there are
several challenges and barriers to further developments, namely:

The reduction or elimination of metallic elements from glass is a novel development and
often requires expensive prototype testing on a project-by-project basis (figure 9).
The large glass panels that are now possible are often limited by transportation, access and
replacement considerations.
Most design guidelines do not distinguish between key load bearing glass elements and
secondary glass elements.
The large sizes and prominence of the glass elements means that quality of fabrication and
low tolerances come to the fore. Although the quality of lamination has improved there are
only a handful of manufacturers and installers who can laminate and install glass to the low
tolerance levels and high quality often required in glass structures.
Bonding bits of metal to glass reduces the need and expense of bolting through glass but
the fixing is still visible and causes stress concentrations in glass such that it often governs
design (e.g. glass thickness, number of plies, interlayer type etc.).

The transparent structure is still the vision, at least in non-faade applications of glass, and
developing innovative methods of joining glass together would seem to address most of the current
challenges in this area. In this respect the further improvements of stiff / strong interlayers and ongoing investigations into the long term performance non-silicon based adhesives present exciting
opportunities for devising all-glass structures (figure 10).

Figure 9 Testing of novel

bolted connection (courtesy
of Ramboll).

Figure 10 Testing of glass-to-metal adhesive joints as part of

European research project led by RWTH Aachen. Showing (a)
single lap shear test and (b) modified T-peel test (courtesy of
Glass and Faade Technology Research Group, Cambridge).

3.
The robustness of glass structures
Glass is inherently brittle, and annealed (float) glass has a relatively low tensile strength and
breaks into large sharp shards that constitute a major risk of injury. Annealed glass can be treated
or combined with other materials to produce a safety glass product that has some ability to reduce
the likelihood of injuries. Heat treating the glass to produce fully tempered (toughened) glass
increases the tensile strength of glass and modifies the fracture patterns to small rounded dice.
This is undoubtedly an improvement, but it is often not considered safe enough, as the mass of
falling glass (albeit in rounded dice) is substantial and may cause injury. The prevalent form of
safety glass is laminated glass, which generally consists of two or more layers of glass (annealed,
heat treated or chemically strengthened) with a visco-elastic polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer.
When laminated glass is broken, the interlayer tends to hold the glass fragments in place thus
reducing the likelihood of injury from falling or propelled shards. However, the use of PVB
laminated glass does not in itself guarantee an adequate post-breakage performance of the glass
element and there have been several reports of laminated glass sagging like a wet towel and
tearing away from the supports, particularly when fully toughened glass plates are used in the
laminated unit (figures 11 and 12). On a system level, it is essential that redundancy through
alternative load paths is available to ensure that the failure of one glass element does not cause
disproportionate collapse of the remaining parts of the structure.

Figure 11 Laminated glass composed of two

sheets of fully toughened glass illustrating the
low post-breakage capacity (courtesy of
Ramboll).

Figure 12 Laminated glass composed of two

sheets of annealed glass illustrating the
superior post-breakage capacity (courtesy of
Ramboll).
5

In general it is inappropriate to classify a glass product as safety glass because the degree of
safety is specific to the boundary conditions, the anticipated actions on the structure and the critical
nature of the element in question. As a result a glass structure may be deemed safe if it ensures
adequate strength and stability for normal actions and in addition it provides safe failure or
adequate residual post-fracture capacity thereby minimising the risk of human injury.
The relatively high level of threats of extreme loading on glass structures ranging from malicious
attacks (bomb blast and impact) to natural events (high wind pressures and flying debris) and fire
means that it is essential to consider the performance of glass under extreme loads and in
particular its post-fracture performance. The glazing industry has responded to the post-fracture
limitations of glass and the increasing severity of normal and exceptional loading conditions by
developing a wide range of new products. The principal innovations in this area are:

The stronger and stiffer interlayers such as DuPonts Sentry Glass Plus interlayer which
often provides an enhanced post-breakage resistance. However, its lower plastic
deformation relative to conventional PVB means that it is less appropriate for absorbing
high energy loads such as blast loading.
The improved knowledge of interlayer behaviour under short and long term conditions.
The development of heat strengthened glass and chemically strengthened glass. Heat
strengthened glass has a design tensile strength of approximately 59MPa (compared to the
short term design strength of annealed glass of 18.5MPa and the design tensile strength of
fully toughened glass of approximately 100MPa), and fails in large pieces thereby providing
a superior post-fracture resistance than that of fully toughened glass (figure 12). Chemically
strengthened glass has a design tensile strength of up to 250MPa and fails in large
fragments thereby providing good post fracture resistance, but at a high cost.
The development of edge retention and enhanced connections that provide a fail-safe
system (figure 5).
The adoption of design approaches that ensure that there are alternative load paths in the
glass structure (figure 13).

Figure 13 Glass panel failure at the Parc De

La Villette in Paris showing adequate provision
of alternative load paths

Figure 14 Routine soft body impact test

to assess post-breakage performance of
glass.

Figure 15 Four point bending test on laminated glass to assess post-breakage performance as
part of feasibility research project supported by the IStructE and Pilkington showing (a) Hinge
mechanism (b) Arch mechanism (courtesy of Glass and Faade Technology Research Group,
Cambridge) .

There are several challenges in ensuring adequate post breakage resistance of glass structures,
namely:
Determining security requirements and risks for a glass structure and the associated task of
quantifying the magnitude and characteristics of the extreme loads are non-trivial tasks. A
particular difficulty in this regard is simulating and validating the characteristics of a blast
load as it travels through the street canyons of a city centre.
Despite the improved understanding of the strength of glass and the properties of the
interlayer, the causes of failure and resulting fracture patterns which governs post-breakage
behaviour are still elusive. Prototype testing is therefore specified as a matter of course to
validate calculations of novel structures (figure 14). This requires use of existing test
standards, but often requires adapting tests to suit the application such as adjusting pass /
fail criteria or changing impact forces.
There is no formal method for applying the fundamental fail-safe concepts in glass design.
This may lead to overly conservative structures or result in unsafe glass structures.
There are several on-going research activities in this field such as:
Experimental and analytical work aimed at predicting the post-fracture performance of glass
analytically and numerically (figure 15).
Work leading to an integrated design approach that operates at the component level and
the system level. In this area there is the opportunity to adapt the fusible link approach
used in aerospace engineering where safety coefficients are calculated and damage
tolerance and fail safe concepts are rigorously checked rather than simply taken on board
in an informal manner.
Investigations into reinforced glass elements that enhance their post-fracture performance.
Safety and robustness considerations are essential in glass design and although there have been
several improvements in this area there is a general inability to predict the post fracture
performance of glass leading to expensive project specific prototype testing. Accurate methods for
assessing post-breakage performance and novel enhanced glass elements and connections will
lead to rapid development in this area.
4.
Producing geometrically complex glass structures
We are currently in a late style of architecture which seems to be characterised by several
emerging styles competing for international dominance. One of these is Blob Architecture in which
buildings and particularly their envelopes have an organic free form shape. Blob architecture relies
heavily on the recent developments in digital technology, namely:
The recent developments in CAD technology, in particular the adoption of nonuniform
rational B-spline (NURBS) in CAD software for representing free from surfaces (figure 16).
The use of computer aided manufacturing in the construction industry specifically the use of
programming tools for converting three dimensional CAD models into CNC code for driving
machine tools in the workshop.
7

The development of powerful finite element analysis software that can analyse free from
continua and the development of powerful graphical pre- and post-processors in
engineering analysis software (figure 17).

Figure 16 Wireframe CAD model of Centre de

Communication Citroen, Paris (courtesy of
Steel Construction Institute, RWTH Aachen).

Figure 17 Finite element analysis showing

principal tensile stresses around bolt hole in a
glass plate.

Glass is produced in flat sheets on the float line and it does not naturally lend itself to the curved
surfaces of Blob Architecture. This is one area of application where more flexible and easily formed
materials such as ETFE seem to have an advantage. Despite this shortcoming there have been
several developments which have made the use of glass on free form buildings possible, albeit at a
significant capital cost.

Figure 18 Triangulated shell structure at BMW world,

Munich.

Figure 19 Front view and

connection detail of Centre de
Communication Citroen, Paris
(courtesy of Steel Construction
Institute, RWTH Aachen).
8

Curved geometries pose two major problems for glass. One of which is the curvature of the glass
which may be overcome by discretising the free from surface into a mesh of planar triangular
elements (figures 18 and 19). The other difficulty is the variation in panel sizes that are often
required to build up a curved surface. This may be mitigated by panelising the curved surface to
generate the least possible number of different sized panels.
A triangular mesh is not always aesthetically acceptable. In such cases it is necessary to adopt the
more expensive option of producing curved sheets of glass. The traditional technique is by sag
bending whereby the flat glass is placed over a mould and heated to approximately 600C,
allowing the glass to soften sufficiently to take the shape of the mould. The glass is then cooled
slowly to avoid any residual stress (figures 20 and 21).

Figure 20 Single curvature sag bending of

glass.

Figure 21 Lentille, entrance to Saint Lazare

Metro Station, Paris (courtesy of RFR).

Sag bending is a reasonably cost effective process for producing curved vehicle windscreens as
the mould can be reused several times, but it becomes prohibitively expensive for bending a single
piece of glass for a building. There are also other problems associated with the sag bending
process, namely:
The high temperatures required for sag bending damages the soft coatings on glass.
Sag bent glass that is subsequently laminated may cause problems of misaligned holes
and uneven interlayer thickness.
Double curvature glass cannot be heat treated.
A recent major innovation in this area has been the development of cold bent glass where the
glass is bent at ambient temperature thereby inducing flexural stresses in the glass. There are two
variations to cold bent glass. The first is by forcing monolithic glass into a shape and securing it
into the bent position by mechanical fixings (figure 22). The second is to force two or more layered
glass panels into a curved shape and hold them in position while laminating them in an autoclave.
When the glass is laminated the curvature is retained by virtue of the longitudinal shear stiffness of
the interlayer. Cold bent glass is cheaper to produce than sag bent glass but the maximum
curvature of cold bent glass is limited by the tensile strength of the glass. Insulated glazing units
(IGUs) the curvature is often limited by the maximum shear strain along the edge seal. Cold bent
glass also has the advantage of providing a curved surface with very few optical distortions (figures
6 and 23), but caution should be exercised when using hot and cold bent glass next to each other
as the finished appearance may vary.
There are several limitations and high costs associated with double curvature glass elements. A
technique currently being researched aims to redress some of these difficulties by discretising a
double curvature surfaces into a series of single curvature strips (figure 24).
It is likely that the demand for curved glass panels will increase in the future. The extent of which
depends on whether Blob Architecture will develop into fully fledged architectural style that is
9

adopted internationally. The main challenge for producing curved glass elements is to understand
the permutations and combinations of the manufacturing and installation processes and the
consequent constraints on what is possible. This understanding is not limited to glass but also
extends to the interfaces between glass and the other elements of the building which become more
complex with freeform shapes.

Figure 22 Cold bent glass at

Peek & Cloppenburg store,
Cologne, Germany (courtesy of
Interpane).

Figure 23 Cold bent glass at TGV Station, Strasbourg,

France (courtesy of RFR).

Figure 24 Representation of double curvature surface with strips of single curvature strips
(courtesy of RFR and Evolute).

Cold bent glass is a very recent and exciting development, but it is unclear whether there is a full
understanding of the long term performance as the interlayer creeps under long term longitudinal
shear strain. This technique is however very promising and has yet to be fully exploited in practice.
Another opportunity in this area is to use the glass surface as a load bearing shell, rather than an
inefficient cladding material, thereby reducing (and possibly eliminating) the need for a supporting
subframe.
10

5. Reducing energy demand in glass clad buildings

Public awareness of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the effects on climate change has
increased dramatically in the last 10 years. There is also a growing recognition that buildings are
responsible for a large proportion of CO2 emissions - approximately 40% of end user CO2
emissions, where heating, cooling, ventilating and lighting of buildings account for a third of all
global CO2 emissions. In an attempt to reduce energy demand in buildings there have been a raft
of national and international targets and regulations for energy efficient buildings.
Glazing has traditionally been regarded as a weak element in the environmental performance of
buildings, but the benefits of glazing such as the introduction of natural light into a building and the
resulting sense of wellbeing for building occupants should not be underestimated. In addition there
have been rapid technological advances in glass leading to substantial improvements in the
thermal transmittance (U-value) and the solar heat gain coefficient (G-value) of glazing units. The
improvements are such that the frame is often the major source of thermal bridging in a
contemporary glazed faade.
There are evident regional differences in this area. In colder climates (e.g. Northern Europe) there
are conflicting requirements of maximising light transmittance and minimising heat loss. The latter
is often strictly regulated. The preferred solution in these climatic regions is to use large area
glazing but with high performance glass sometimes in conjunction with passive energy efficient
systems such as natural ventilation, double skin faades or shading devices (figure 25). In warmer
climates (e.g. Middle East region) it is impossible to have a full glass faade and achieve
performance without relying heavily on mechanical air conditioning systems.

Figure 25 Double skin faade with screen

printed pattern to reduce heat gain (courtesy
of Interpane).

Figure 26 Coating machine

incorporating multiple (more than twenty)
targets (courtesy of Interpane).

There have been several developments in high performance glass coatings generally applied by
the magnetron sputtering technique whereby a solid target material is bombarded by energetic ions
which cause atoms from the target to be deposited on the surface of the glass substrate. The
process takes place in a long vacuum chamber through which the glass substrate is passed on
rollers (figure 26). The targets are often placed in series to enable the build up of multiple layers of
silver and metal oxides such as zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon dioxide or titanium dioxide that
constitute a high performance coating. Having several targets in series also enables multiple
complex coatings to be applied in one run. The coatings are generally low emissivity coatings that
reduce the radiant heat loss / heat gain from / to the glass surface or selective transmission
coatings on glass that have the ability to transmit a larger proportion of the visible electromagnetic
spectrum while reducing the transmission of the unwanted near-infrared radiation. Glass with high
performance coatings are often assembled into double or triple glazed IGUs to protect the
11

coatings and produce U-values as low as 1.0 W/m2K and 0.5 W/m2K respectively. Metallic and
ceramic coatings may also be used in patterns to partially opacify and shade the glass (figure 25).
High performance films such as the XiR film that is laminated between two layers of glass are also
available. This film has a G-value of 0.41 with clear glass and a light transmission of 72%. Another
recent innovation is vacuum insulated glazing such as Spacia produced by Pilkington / Nippon
Sheet Glass. This consists of two sheets of glass separated by a 0.2mm vacuum and held apart
by glass micro spacers. A 6mm thick vacuum insulated unit may provide the same thermal
performance as a 24mm thick conventional double glazed unit, but vacuum insulated glazing is still
relatively expensive.
During the last ten years there has been substantial research and development activity in
chromogenic glass. This involves glass sheets that sandwich polymer films or solutions that have
the capacity to change colour and light transmittance in response to an external stimulus such as a
temperature change or a potential difference. Some products based on eletrchromic or suspended
particle devices are starting to appear on the market, but the cost is prohibitive for most
applications and their long term performance, although improving, is still limited.
This area presents three interrelated challenges, namely:
Deploying and integrating these fast developing technologies to the best effect.
Determining the optimal level of glazing to balance the divergent requirements of energy
efficiency, client aspirations and occupant well-being.
Using high performance glazing in existing and underperforming buildings that represent
the largest contributors to CO2 emissions.
High performance glazing is available and it appears that the technologies currently under
development will improve the performance of static glass products even further. There appears to
be a growing research and development activity in actively controlled faades where the occupant
or the building management system can control the transfer of energy through the building
envelope as the need arises. With such efficient building envelopes and by integrating renewable
energy technologies into faades, it is conceivable that the glazed building envelope will be
transformed form energy sink to energy source whilst maintaining its desirable properties of full or
partial transparency. In order to meet the required reduction in CO2 emissions it is however
insufficient to deploy this technology in state-of-the-art low impact buildings, but it is essential that
this technology is made simple enough and sufficiently cost effective to be used in existing
underperforming buildings.
6.
National and international standards for the use of glass in buildings
A standard is essentially a best practise guideline which may feasibly be written when the subject
area has reached a certain level of maturity within the engineering community often through a
combination of normative research and design / construction experience. Standards therefore tend
to lag behind the latest research activities and the novel construction projects. With this in mind it is
not surprising that there is a paucity of standards and guidelines for the structural use of glass in
buildings. Civil engineering-led research in this field is increasing but is still well below the levels
seen in other mainstream construction materials. Design guidelines and standards such as the
IStructEs manual on structural glass1 and the more recent IABSEs structural engineering
document on glass2 are few and far between and require regular updating to keep up with the rapid
pace of developments. Likewise national and international standard on the structural use of glass
are still in their infancy. This reduced level of regulation affords a substantial degree of freedom in
which architects and manufacturers can develop exciting new products and structures, but this
inevitably results in a substantial amount of national and regional diversity in glass engineering
solutions.
In most developed countries there is a basic standard for glass design that tends to cater for
standard cases such as two- and four- edge supported glass plates. The standards vary in detail
and complexity ranging from design charts in some countries to more detailed manual calculations
12

in others. None of the current standards however provides the basic parameters for glass design
that are essential for designing novel glass structures. As a result the design of novel glass
structures requires project-specific verification based on analysis, prototype testing and previous
experience (figures 9, 11 12 and 14). This is not necessarily a problem for those practices that
have a track record of structural glass design and established internal methodologies for design
assisted by testing but it is more challenging for designers who have little or no experience of glass
design. The lack of complete and harmonised standards also creates some difficulties for
experienced glass designers who often have to design very similar glass structures in different
locations, but have to prove each design through local unsophisticated codes. In addition, there is
a lack of comprehensive standards for glass manufacture and offline processes such as laminating
and heat strengthening which leads to considerable variations in quality control. The lack of
internationally agreed standards may cause trade barriers and reduced international activity. The
absence of officially agreed values, of for example the design strength of glass, places
unnecessary indemnity risks on designers and manufactures as their designs and products are not
backed up by national or international standards.
In contrast there are tough European regulations for the thermal performance of glass driven by
the European Energy Performance Directive3 and the national standards that evolved from this
directive. For example the performance of all coatings must be measured. Regulations are less
onerous outside the European Union although they are increasing rapidly in North America.
Increasing regulation on energy efficiency in buildings such as the Part L Building Regulations4 in
the UK has resulted in the reduction of clear glazing in building envelopes, but its effect was less
than expected largely due to technological advances in high performance glazing.
There is a general consensus that there is a need to develop a unified international standard on
glass. It is however vital that any such standard does not become too restrictive, but it should
rather provide harmonised fundamental properties and design methodologies while supporting the
alternative route of design assisted by prototype testing. There has been ongoing activity in this
area for the last ten years that has culminated in a draft standard for glass design5, but this
standard has encountered several difficulties particularly in meeting the expectations of individual
stakeholders. More recently there has been a proposal to the European commission for the
development of a comprehensive Eurocode on glass6. The European Commission is yet to
approve this proposal and is currently seeking industry feedback. A negative decision would
undoubtedly be a major setback to the glass engineering community.
Conclusion
Recent developments in societal needs and technology are creating unprecedented challenges
and opportunities in the use of glass in buildings ranging from complex geometry to occupant
safety and lightness / transparency to energy efficient in buildings.
This paper identified five main themes which are attracting much attention in the glass engineering
community and maps out the recent innovations and the future opportunities in each of these
areas. In doing so the paper provides a macroscopic view of the current trends rather than a
narrow detailed account of a single engineering problem. The five themes identified in this paper
are quite diverse, but two overarching observations may be drawn. The first is that there are a
considerable amount of recent innovations in each of the themes and current activities in each of
these areas suggests that are many other novel products, processes and applications are in the
pipeline. The second observation is that these innovations often require a truly multi-disciplinary
effort spanning across structural engineering, architecture, building physics, materials science,
manufacturing and installation.
There is little doubt that the recent and future innovations in glass engineering will improve the
performance and will continue to extend the domain of what is possible. The challenge for design
engineers and architects is to select and adopt these technologies not as fashionable add-ons, but
13

at an early design stage when decisions have the largest impact on the final design thereby
leading to optimised performance-based buildings.
References
1.

IStructE.: Structural use of glass in buildings, The Institution of Structural Engineers,London,

December 1999.

2.

Haldimann, M., Luible, A., and Overend M.: Structural use of glass, Structural Engineering
document no. 10, International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers, 2008.

3.

European Directive 2002/91/EC - Energy performance of buildings. Official Journal of the

European Communities, Dec 2002.

4.

Building Regulations Part L Conservation of Fuel and Power Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister, 2006.

5.

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Acknolwedgements
Throughout the various stages of writing this report it became increasingly evident that face-to-face
meetings and personal visits to manufacturers and construction sites were indispensable. I am
therefore grateful to the Institution of Structural Engineers Educational Trust for supporting this
work through the Pai Lin Li Travel Award.
The paper is largely based on the invaluable insight of leading experts in the glass design and
glass manufacturing community. In particular I would like to thank the following people who
generously agreed to be interviewed for this paper and who provided material for this report:
Henry Bardsley and Nicolo Baldassini, RFR
Markus Feldmann and Mascha Baitinger, Steel construction Institute, RWTH Aachen
Tim MacFarlane, Dewhusrt Macfarlane and Partners
Tim Morgan and Phil Savage, Pilkington NSG
James OCallaghan, Eckersley OCallaghan Structural Engineers
Hanno Sastre, Seele Sedak
Will Stevens, Ramboll
Henk Wassink, Interpane

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