‘A sense of connectedness’
3rd December 2019

A 51-foot wall of Pilkington Planar glazing helps to ‘foster a sense of connectedness’ to the David Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, USA.

The centrepiece of the 295,000 sq ft scheme is an atrium lobby, whose multi-level interior features a range of spaces designed to facilitate different interactions between people, from large gatherings to formal and casual meetings between groups of any size.

The architect’s initial plan for the construction was to use two free-span vertical steel trusses and horizontal steel beams with stainless steel tension rods connected to the front to help support the weight and transfer wind load deflection. But engineers at the glazing designer W&W Glass advised that transparent fins could be used, both removing visual interruptions from the surface and helping to reduce costs.

This is possible thanks to the strength of the Planar l SentryGlas System laminated glass that was used in the fins, as well as the capabilities of the Pilkington Planar 905 series heavy duty fittings that hold the system in place.

The clear façade glass is made of large toughened glass units that offer both low-emissivity (low-e) insulation and solar control. The 10ft X 7ft 5in units are made of Pilkington Suncool 66/33 T and are held in place with heavy-duty stainless-steel countersunk bolts, anchoring them to the supporting glass fins.

In addition to the main atrium glass fin wall, the lower entrance below utilised point-supported structural glazing as well off of cantilevered,  painted steel plate beam blades to allow for expansive 13ft 4in tall structural glass panels at the ground floor with only one row of mid-clip fittings.