"We know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use'' Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, recently stated this during the speech regarding the new Apple Headquarters in Cupertino (California, USA).
Facade units get bigger and bigger every year. Some colleagues engineers have thought that cladding world has gone mad, but it is not true. Innovations are moving ahead. The market demands it.
Architecture is demanding larger pieces, such as Apple Store in Shanghai, where the height of every glass facade is approximately 12 meters.
The main benefits can be noticed immediately and are set out as follows:
- Reduction of glass joints, improving watertightness and increasing light transmission.
- Reduction of supporting claddings.
- Improved load carriage behaviour.
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| Apple Store in Sydney, glass panes covering the complete height of the facade |
It has been recently published (link is hereby included) that Apple is going to renovate the Cube store on Fifth Avenue in New York, removing the 90 glass panes and supersede them by only 15 larger panes as it is shown in the picture below.
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| Apple has revealed its plans for the cube with a new informational sign posted on the barrier surrounding the plaza. It can be seen the 15 glass panes instead of 90 |
Another clue regarding this architectural trend was found in the last Glasstech Düsseldorf in October 2010, it was shown a huge insulated glass panel of 18 meters in width and 3.3 meters in height, manufactured by Henze-Glas from Hörden, Germany.
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| Henze-Glas DGU in the factory, before shipping to Glasstec 2010. Employers are sitting on top of the 18m long glass unit |
What are the limits on the glass size for hurricane prone regions such as South Florida where you must meet testing and product approval requirements do to extreme pressures and wind-borne debris?
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