Structural Glass Design and Facade Engineering
- Lecturer: V. Silvestru
- Coordinating assistent: see lecturer
- Semester: Autumn
- Language: English
This course introduces students to structural glass design and related facade engineering aspects. The students will learn about:
- production methods and properties of the material glass and glass products and their structurally relevant properties;
- connection principles and types for glass elements (mechanical fixing, adhesive bonding);
- requirements for glass elements depending on the application area (vertical glazing, overhead glazing, walk-on glazing, barrier glazing);
- structural design of glass elements based on standards and research results;
- Typologies and design of structural systems for transparent façades and other requirements to transparent facades.
In the first part of the course (approximately one half of the semester), students will follow lectures and participate in group exercises (in class or online, depending on the given situation). The lectures will cover the theoretical background and application-related aspects for structural design of glass elements and related facade engineering tasks. In the group exercises, hand calculation methods as well as specialized software for structural design of glass will be introduced and applied.
In the second part of the course, students will work on a small design task (e.g. a glass canopy, a glass facade section, a glass pavilion) in groups of 2-3 students. This will allow the students to apply and consolidate the knowledge gained in the lectures and group exercises. In weekly review sessions, the students will be provided with feedback from the lecturer on their progress. At the end of the semester, the students will be evaluated based on a project report, an oral presentation and an oral exam.