TKTS, Times Square
The beginning of all-glass buildings
The largest load-bearing glass structure in the world, the new TKTS booth in Times Square, supports glass benches atop two-inch-thick windows. Sounds delicate, but it regularly holds 500 foot-stomping Jumbotron watchers. For reinforcement, engineers at Dewhurst Macfarlane used a plastic film called SentryGlas Plus. The film is 100 times the strength of typical laminates and binds sheets together into structural pieces that are five times as strong as a wooden frame. The TKTS booth is a window onto new structural uses for glass, inspiring the firm to drape steel canopies on glass columns at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts this year. Are all-glass towers next? Says structural engineer Michael Ludvik, “You could literally make a skyscraper.”
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Two problems with glass - It doesn't absorb much energy before failure and it doesn't fail slowly. I appreciate that the laminate layer will provide some redundancy and absorb some energy, but to state "You could literally make a skyscraper." speaks of salemanship and not engineering.
Having experienced previous 'bullet proof' glass laminates, I can attest to their durability. If the laminates are anything like described, they would be revolutionary construction materials.... in the hands of a Master Engineer.
the thing is with glass, one crack weakens the entire thing- alot.
and all the kings hoses and all the kings men...
All-glass facades are bad for skyscrapers, what makes people think a glass construction will make anything better ;X
And sorry, but this cannot ever get to the strength and dynamic qualities of high performance concrete
OK, Forget about the skyscrapers for a second and think about everyday residential architecture. How awesome would it be to have an all glass house where you could incorporate the ability to opaque any pane you desired, have a computer set up with profiles of every room to control the opaque feature and an apple like digital touchscreen interface where any wall could be a display. Thank about watching a 150 inch display right on your wall that could follow you anywhere in the house even into the bathroom and what kind of view you could have sitting in your living room in your favorite chair, if you had your house on a hill. Sounds pretty awesome to me. I agree the Skyscraper thing might be a little far-fetched and ridiculous but for other applications this could be life-changing
Just don't throw stones while you're in it.
11/15/09 at 10:23 am
"the thing is with glass, one crack weakens the entire thing- alot.
and all the kings hoses and all the kings men..."
We're not talking about plain, ordinary window glass. With the proper formulation, a sledgehammer made of glass could withstand years of daily use.
To be honest, I hate glass buildings!! They are monstrous, they have not a slightest hint on style and taste or any architectural thing..
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bathroom suites