GEOMETRICAL ASPECTS FOR THE DESIGN OF PREFABRICATED LOAD-BEARING TIMBER-GLASS-FACADES

The considerable increase in the architectural demands for highly transparent and load-bearing structures have recently resulted in the development of an innovative hybrid structure. This article provides a review of design parameters for Timber-Glass composite facades. The design/architectural question, which arose in the project, was how to define the interface of the prefabricated glass-timber-elements with the shell building. Through different design proposals different criteria as admittance of building tolerance and dilatation, load-bearing transfer capacity, maintenance requirements and architectural and design qualities were defined and verified through 3-d-models, prototypes and mock-ups