I have a client who is doing a glass house. His current intention is to use a concrete roof – which does make sense in terms of rigidity… however, this poses an issue of how to go about transferring the loads from the roof to the glass without having the concrete bearing directly on the glass (for the obvious reasons) yet still providing adequate weather protection and preferably avoiding concentrated stresses from fixtures etc. A further consideration is the effect of time on glass embrittlement – the panels / members need to have some method simplified replacement. I would imagine that there is some sort of continuous track with PVC lining that would accomplish this with some degree of success, but I can’t find anything that fits the bill. i.e. can tapcon to concrete with little to no rust issues, sustain gravity and lateral loading and has removable side plate for ready replacement of the panels.
Something to note is that the current design has no columns and no structural elements other than glass. Don’t ask me why I always seem to get this kind of work… I really couldn’t tell you.
Any ideas or leads would be greatly appreciated.
Richard Calvert, EIT
Lindemann Bentzon Bojack
Architects & Engineers
tel: 352.242.0100 ext.141 fax: 352.242.0302
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