Design of Façades Made of Channel Shaped Glass

Geralt Siebert

Channel shaped glass is a special cast glass variety in the shape of an U. Because of its U-shape it has excellent load bearing capacity compared to flat glass panes. Due to modern production methods channel shaped glass today comes with different coatings and – fairly new – thermally toughened. Together with appropriate perimeter framing systems façades made of channel shaped glass can fulfil most actual requirements for solar protection, thermal insulation, sound control and environmental compatibility. Moreover, by using channel shaped glass for facades it is possible for architects to achieve special optical effects, especially together with artificial lighting. After a short view on material and façade properties the paper shows that smart façades can be built using comparatively cheap channel shaped glass. Here "classic" systems (linear bearings at both ends of the channel shaped glass elements) as well as an own development for the façade of "Kammerspiele" in Munich is presented. The FEM-Analysis for design and static analysis of last mentioned façade showed that in case of special solutions local effects can be very important and have to be considered carefully.

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