STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

facades as used herein refers to the structural system acting as the spanning element
supporting the façade. “Structural glazing,” on the other hand, refers to glass that is fixed to
supporting structure with a structural adhesive material in the absence of any mechanical
capture of the glass pane. Compagno (1995, p.16) comments that a more appropriate term
would be “bonded glazing”, as the supporting frame is the same as a conventionally
captured curtain wall system. Similarly, there is no generally accepted categorization or
naming of many of the glass and structure system types that comprise structural glass
façade technology.
It is conceivable that opaque panel materials other than glass could be used as a primary
cladding element on the façade structure systems. It is similarly conceivable that transparent
or translucent plastic materials could be used. The former condition would effectively remove
the resulting façade from the class described herein. The latter condition represents a
special case so infrequently encountered as to be of no particular consequence to this
naming strategy.
The structural systems used in support of structural glass facades are discussed generally in
Chapter 2, and rigorously identified and categorized in Chapter 6. It is interesting that the
majority of structural glass facades inhabit the top of the pyramid when it comes to
complexity and cost; the reasons for which are discussed later in this thesis. The intent here
is to describe the fundamental elements of this technology in a clear and simple form, and in
a manner that may provide for better understanding and result in wider application by the
building community; simpler, more efficient and economical solutions that begin to fill out the
base of the pyramid. To facilitate this simplification, the technology is viewed from the limited
application of essentially vertical, mostly planar façade structures as a partial element of the
building skin, and in fact this does represent the majority of existing application. However,
structural glass façade technology is capable of a remarkable diversity of form. All of the
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