STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

transparent, and at night with the interior lit, the glass wall virtually disappears. This is one of
the early suspended glass walls, with glass fins providing lateral support. As with the Hahn
system some 15 years earlier, the glass for the Willis Faber & Dumas façade is hung from
above, only instead of a single sheet, six sheets are linked together in a chain from top to
bottom, in this respect a truer “curtain” wall than the technology commonly referenced by
that term. The façade is 12 meters (39ft) high, and follows an irregular curve in plan. In
addition to Foster, Martin Francis played a role as glazing consultant in the realization of this
façade, and Pilkington advanced the design by providing the suspended glazing system at a
competitive price. The Pilkington system uses a “patch plate” to accommodate the fixing of
the glass. From this general timeframe forward, mechanical “point-fixed” glass systems
become a driving force in the evolution of structural glass façade technology. (Wigginton
1996, pp.110-115)
Figure 1.13 Willis Faber & Dumas Building,
Ipswich; Foster and Associates, 1972
(Cambridge 2000 Gallery 2005).
Figure 1.14 Willis Faber & Dumas night image,
(Craven n.d.).
1.3.3 Transparency and Beyond
Architecture is intrinsically bound up in the play of light, form and space. Glass is the unique
material that opens the interior spaces of architecture to this play of light. It is difficult to
imagine contemporary architecture without glass. The three most significant visual properties
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