STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

application to the AIA/CES to become a program provider, and to submit a variation of the
program presented as their first program for approval.
The second presentation was to the thesis class in the Master of Building Science program
at the University of Southern California, of which the author is a participant. This
presentation was accompanied by testing as documented in the following chapter.
The third presentation was to a 3 rd -year architectural studio class at USC. This presentation
was also accompanied by testing documented in the following chapter, along with summary
results and conclusions derived from the testing.
The author has the following comments on the presentation itself, independent of the testing
results
The program is too long to deliver in a 60-minute timeframe without rushing. The
presentation includes 85 slides, and while many of these are primarily images that can be
moved through quickly, there are still too many content slides. The content is probably too
broad to realistically present in a single program. Ideally, at least two programs could be
developed for separate applications, one for glass and glass systems, and the other for
structure systems. Each program would still have to be contextualized with inclusion of some
of the related content from the other presentation, so there would be some significant
overlap between the programs. Content is certainly not the problem; it would be easy to
develop a 60-minute program for each of the topics of glass, glass panel fabrications, glass
fixing systems, and structural systems, and perhaps this should be considered.
However, a program that integrates the various considerations that comprise structural glass
façade technology is undoubtedly of the most general use, and an effort should be made to
further refine the current program to improve its efficiency.
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