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STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

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design application <strong>of</strong> the system for testing purposes. In combination with other design<br />

strategies consistent with security concerns, such research could be <strong>of</strong> some significant<br />

value.<br />

10.3.4 Productization <strong>of</strong> Structural Glass Façade System Types<br />

What Is a Product<br />

It is no coincidence that the <strong>of</strong>ten referenced Willis Faber & Dumas building, designated<br />

herein as the birth-point <strong>of</strong> structural glass façade technology, is the first application <strong>of</strong> a<br />

suspended glass façade product brought to market by Pilkington, a prominent global glass<br />

supplier. Pilkington has led the market in the development <strong>of</strong> structural glass façade<br />

products and technology, and in so doing has arguably done more than anyone or anything<br />

else in diffusing the technology into a broader market. The single-glazed suspended system<br />

used in the Willis Faber building has evolved into today’s Pilkington Planar system, arguably<br />

the leading structural glass system in the marketplace. The Planar system is supported by<br />

product samples, connection details, product specifications, technical support, case studies,<br />

design guidelines, test reports, installation guides and an industry leading 12-year warranty;<br />

everything required to address the full building process from concept design through<br />

installation. This is what defines a product. Yet this product has been used to produce<br />

repeated innovation in structural glass facades including designs <strong>of</strong> incredible diversity and<br />

range. However, in many applications designers are able to take the Planar product and<br />

apply it to an evolving design, essentially designing around the product requirements, with<br />

little industry support and no requirement for a specialty consultant.<br />

The potential is to develop product systems out <strong>of</strong> the various structural types,<br />

“standardized” products able to accommodate significant design diversity in their application.<br />

This is not simply a matter <strong>of</strong> providing a stainless steel cable net vertex clamp. This level <strong>of</strong><br />

product is already available. The opportunity is for robust product systems that<br />

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