Glass & Glazing

Contents:
• Glass
• Glazing for doors, windows
and skylights
• Structural Glazing
• Curtain Wall Glazing
Glass Types
 Flat Glass History
• Blown - cylinder glass blown, reheated and flattened.
• Plate - late 17th century, high enough in quality for mirrors
• Float - invented in 1959 by Pilkington Brothers (now the standard for
glassmaking)

• Annealing: cooling glass at a slow controlled rate to counteract

internal stresses. This is done in a kiln known as a Lehr.

Annealing
 Glass Treatments for Strength
For window/building glass: 1/8” to 1 inch

Three methods to strengthen Annealed Glass

– Heat strengthened
• 2x times stronger than annealed
• less distortion than tempered
• breaks like annealed glass into long sharp edge shards

– tempered
• 4x times stronger than annealed
• some noticeable distortion
• cannot be drilled or cut
• breaks into small square edge granules
• since 1977 Federal law has required glass
located within 18 in of a floor or
doorway to be tempered.

– laminated
 Tempered Glass
Safety glass processed by controlled
thermal or chemical treatments to
increase its strength compared with
normal glass.
Tempering creates imbalanced
internal stresses within the glass
When broken will crumble into small
granular chunks instead of shattering
or splintering into jagged shards.
The granular chunks are less likely to
cause injury. is annealed glass that is
reheated and rapidly cooled
 Laminated Glass
• Made by sandwiching a
transparent polyvinyl butyric
(PVB) interlayer between sheets
of glass bonding the layers
together under heat and pressure.

• When laminated glass breaks, the

plastic sheet holds the broken
glass in place, thus reducing the
risk of injury in case of breakage.
 Wire Glass
• Wire glass has grid or mesh of thin
metal embedded within the glass.
• Wire mesh acts as reinforcement to
strengthen the glass
• Glass that remains intact when
subject to mechanical impact
• Also restricts the expansion of fire.
• The wire prevents the glass from
falling out of the frame even if it
cracks under thermal stress
• Far more heat-resistant than a
laminating material.
Fritted Glass
Glass that has an imprint on the
surface with silk screened patterns
of ceramic based paint.
Paint is fired in a glass furnace to
transform into a hard ceramic
permanent coating.
The paint consist primarily of
pigmented glass particles that are
called frits.
Typical patterns are stripes or dots,
but custom designs are easily
reproduced.
 Glazing
• Process of placing glass into
profiles designed to receive them

• Held in place with glazing clips,

blocks and compounds making a
weather tight joint between the
glass and frame.

• Glazing work must keep the glass

from contacting the frame during
thermal expansion of the glass or
the frame and during loading due
to wind, snow, rain or seismic
forces.

• The tradesmen - "glazier".

Glazing Doors, Windows
& Skylight
 Glazing
• Mounted on doors and window
frames
• Frames can be made of wood,
aluminum or PVC :
- a window sash/frame
- door stile
 Rebate

Glazing
bead Frame
Single glazing

Double glazing

Triple glazing
 Exercise: Sketch the window sections
sections A-A, B-B
B

A A

B
Exercise: Sketch sections A-A, B-B
A

B B

A
Examples of glazing details on doors and
windows
Glazing Details
 Glazing Details

!!

• Synthetics for installing glazing, rubber, neoprene &

vinyl are particularly effective in allowing for the
thermal expansion and contraction of glass:
Glazing Details
 Glazing: Fanlight
• A fanlight is a window, rectangular,
square, semicircular or semi-elliptical in
shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets
radiating out like an open ‘fan’

• It is placed over another window or a

doorway

• Function to allow transmission of light glazing bars

• Sometimes hinged to a transom

transom
 Glazing: Skylight
• Skylight - multi-paned glass
structure that sits atop a typically
flat roof

• Function- to provide natural light

into the room below.

• They allow for unique views of the

outdoors

• Provide considerably more

internal and external architectural
appeal
 Glazing: Skylight
• Skylight design considerations:
- aesthetics
- day lighting
- high performance sealants
- reduce energy loss
- water-tightness

• Materials that forms the skylight

frame:
- timber
- aluminum
- PVC
- composite materials
Structural Glazing
 Structural Glass Wall
Structural glazing
• Frameless glazing

• Each glazing unit is supported by

point fixings, normally bolted
connections.

• The glazing units may be

supported individually from a
separate framed structure similar
to that shown or a stick
construction curtain wall.

• Glazed walls - 'Planar' walls

 Structural Glass Walls

A structural glass wall is

made up of structural glass
sheets suspended from
special clamps, or spider
fittings.
These fittings are stabilized
against wind pressure by
perpendicular stiffeners
and/or cables and carry the
glass loads

Spider fittings-
used to hold tempered glass in structural glass
walls
Fixing for Structural Glass Walls
Fixing for Structural Glass Walls
structural glass wall using spider fittings
structural glass wall using spider fittings
structural glass wall using
spider fittings & cable supports
Structural Glass Roof Panels
spider fittings and cable supports
Glass fins used as structural elements to car
glass gravity loads and wind loads.
Glass fins used as structural elements to carry
glass gravity loads and wind loads.
 Glass Building
Envelope: Curtain
Walls

© Copyright Saint-Gobain Glass 2004

 Glazing: Curtain Walls
• Glass is an unique building material which
combines both aesthetics & functional benefits

• Blends interiors with exteriors: substantially

improves the productivity of occupants

• Transparent: day light for the interiors

• Less load than traditional envelopes: lighter

super structure thus lighter foundation

• Better performance on seismic loads: Higher

stability

• Types of glass: clear glass, tempered glass,

tinted glass, coated glass/laminated glass
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Introduction
The design of a building envelope will determine:
• Building appearance
• Internal building environment
• Whole life costs of energy and envelope
maintenance
• Life to refurbishment

Who designs?
Many parties may be involved in the design of a
building envelope including:
• Client
• Architect
• Engineer
• Main contractor
• Specialist contractor
 Curtain Wall Glazing
• Involvement of clients and architects - predominantly in the schematic
design.

• Trend for building services engineers are included in the building

envelope design process – for energy performance reasons

• Critical involvement of structural engineers - to consider building and

façade movements and cladding loads.

• Important to involve engineers at the scheme design stage to ensure

that what is proposed may be built in compliance with the Building
Regulations and the laws of physics.

• Early appointment of contractors and specialist contractors - can make

a valuable contribution to design, as they are aware of issues affecting
the ease of construction that will impact on cost and construction time.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Design Options

• Should the façade be a heavyweight or

lightweight construction?

• What areas of glass should be used and in

what orientation?

• Should the façade be prefabricated or site-

assembled (stick, unitized, panellised or
rainscreen etc.)?

• Should the façade be a bespoke design or

a standard system?

• What are appropriate combinations of

primary structure and façade?
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Selection of components
• The specialist contractor will select the components and materials to be
used in the building envelope unless they are specified prescriptively
• For example, the specialist contractor will select the glass type,
operating hardware and so on.
• They may even select the framing system to be used.

Design detailing
• The specialist contractor will produce workshop drawings and site
drawings.
• They will always decide on joint locations, bracket design and other
bespoke elements of the building envelope.
• They will detail additonal elements of the building envelope such as
brise soleil.
• It is important that a specialist contractor with appropriate design skills
is employed.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
• The appearance, quality and
performance of a glazing building
envelope - dependent on good
construction.

• Appointment of qualified installers

and trained supervisors - single
most effective way to achieve a
good building envelope.

• Specialist – can be direct labour or

by a labour only subcontractor.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
• Important for architects,
engineers, main contractors to
know how to supervise works –
must be trained to be capable of
inspecting the work.

• Check on workmanship site

testing may be undertaken during
installation and on completion.

• This may include:

- Whole building air leakage
testing
- Hose testing for watertightness
- Thermal imaging
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Installation
• Installation is generally the responsibility of the
specialist contractor.

• Installers must be competent – have generic skills

and knowledge and also specific knowledge of the
glazing system being installed.

• The knowledge required comprises:

- General knowledge of glass and glazing,
gaskets, sealants, hardware
- Particular knowledge of how the system being
used is assembled including, joint assembly,
drainage and bracketry.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Specialist Contractors
• Appointment of a Specialist
Contractor with appropriate
skills and experience is very
important

• Responsible for the detail

design and construction of the
building envelope.

• This includes: the detailed

design taking account of
tolerances, component sizes
and configuration
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Supervision of installation
• It is essential that all those who purport to supervise
building envelope installation have adequate
knowledge.

• There are manufacturers that run courses for architects,

main contractors and specialist contractors to teach an
understanding of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of cladding and
glazing.

Site Testing
• Site testing may be used to check workmanship,
occasionally it is used to check design performance.

• As a check on design performance it is no substitute for

controlled testing of a specimen in a laboratory. Lessons
learnt from site testing will not be fed in to the design but
will only be used to assess options for rectification work.

• Site testing to assess wokmanship should be timely. It

should be undertaken early in a project if the desire is to
improve workmanship, and at the end of construction if it
is to prove compliance.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Stick construction
• This is the most common method of constructing
curtain walls

• Simiar techniques are used to assemble roof

glazing.

• Consists of a grillage of mullions supported from

the floor slabs and transoms.

• These are assembled at site and the resulting

openings are infilled with glazing or opaque
panels.

• It has the advantage that it is economical and the

construction sequence is flexible.

• Disadvantages are the lengthy intallation time and

high dependence on site workmanship to ensure
acceptable quality.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Unitised construction
•Consists of pre-fabricated units normally the width
of a glazing bay and one or two storeys in height.

•Units are supported from the edge of the floor slab.

•Units are delivered to site glazed and infilled and

only the unit perimeter seals are made at site.

•Marginally more expensive than stick construction

but normally leads to a higher quality wall.

•Unitised construction is quicker to install but

requires better planning and larger lead times are
required.
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Panellised construction
•Panellised construction comprises pre-fabricated
panels that span from column to column.

•The panels are supported from the columns and not

influenced by movement of the floor slabs.

•The panels require structural integrity to transfer the

loads on them back to the columns.

•Either a precast concrete panel or a steel truss is used.

•Panellised wall can be installed more quickly than

other forms of wall.
Framing
components
for glass
curtain walls
 Curtain Wall Glazing
Structural silicone glazing
• Can be incorporated in stick, unitised,
penallised curtain wall glazing systems

• This is a method of bonding the glazing units to

a frame. This has the advantage that the glazing
appears from the outside to be frameless.

• The glazing is bonded to a carrier frame that is

bolted to a framing system such as that for a
stick , unitised, penallised construction curtain
wall.

• The glazing may be bonded on two edges (and

framed on the other two) or it may be bonded
on four edges. In the latter case small clips may
be provided to provide mechanical retention.
The type of glass can
effect heat gain
within buildings…
Also, various
shading devices
Shading devices
- Ditto
Deeply recessed to provide daylight without heat gain
Day Transparency
Curtain wall system:
• Non load bearing
• Multi level spans
• Supported by floor framing
• Site fabricated /
prefabricated
• Climate modification
• Higher wind loads
• Image

Storefront system:
•Ingress / egress
•Visual connection with street
•Security
Terms:
•Spandrel glass
•Head
•Jamb
•Sill
•Mullin
 Framing:
•Extruded aluminum
•Systematized
•Anodized finishes

Glazing:
•Tempered glass
•Spandrel glass
•Tinted glass
•Float glass
•Laminated glass for security
•Insulated glass
Sample of aluminum
curtainwall profiles
Opaque glass for covering the bands of wall around
the edges of floors in glass curtainwall construction.
Thank You