Laminating metal-to-glass: preliminary results of case-study

Relatively recently, several glass projects have been presented in which structural connections have been realised by means of laminated metal-to-glass connections. In such applications, small metallic connection parts are laminated directly on the glass surface or in between different glass layers by means of a suitable interlayer foil, e.g. SentryGlas ® (SG), which acts as an adhesive. Well-known built examples such as the Apple-staircases in Apple stores at different locations worldwide or different projects exhibited at Glasstec in Düsseldorf, demonstrate that this technique can result in relatively small and smooth connection solutions with a nice architectural detailing. As such metal-to-glass laminated connections possibly have a more extended structural potential than only staircases, a preliminary conceptual study was performed to investigate technological and architectural aspects of this technique for connecting a secondary beam to a main beam. To focus on the research, the roof of the "All Transparent Pavilion" (Delft, 2004) was chosen as a case-study in which the beam-to-beam connectors (originally based on an acrylic bonding of metal-to-glass) could be replaced with laminated metal-to-glass alternatives. Using a mainly experimental approach, this paper will focus on different aspects of the design case from an architectural point of view, such as tolerances, technology and visual appearance. Finally, preliminary prototypes are presented to give an impression of how the beam-to-beam connection could look like and how the use of metal-to-glass laminations could improve the visual appearance of the designed details