Ultra-thin Glass Pavilion

Structural ultra-thin glass challenges the use of a brittle, paper-thin material in spatial structures applications. This study highlights the properties of ultra-thin glass beyond its transparency and investigates its application as a structural material. Although the use of glass as a structural material by itself is not new, the here proposed research opens new and promising avenues by implementing cold bent “paper-thin” glass as the main structural component in an experimental pavilion.

The goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility and the scalability of structural cold bent ultra-thin glass system. This paper presents the results of the analysis, some of the testing, but does not relate the construction, which is targeted in July 2018 at the Boston IASS Annual Symposium.

The structural system is formed by structural cold bent glass elements interconnected to one. The glass resists both the gravity and lateral loads, unlike in standard glazed systems where the glass solely serves as an infill. When completed, this pavilion will be the first structural cold bent ultra-thin glass structure.

Previous sculptural glass work is described herein, as well as the conception, structural design, non-linear finite element analysis and testing of the pavilion components.