The Cheapest Glass Curtain Wall in China
The idea for this research & development is related to a fast-track project in Beijing, concerning the refurbishment of the façades of a recently build although abandoned industrial building.We quickly concluded that we had to explore what is the cheapest way to build a glass curtain-wall. This constraint will become the general concept: how does a glass curtain-wall look like when all its parts are value engineered to the most extreme limit without altering any of its functionalities.The study, initially targeting to design a specific façade for one project, will in reality lead to a product that is designed without even considering any architectural design intention. Doing so, the product becomes kind of universal, with multiple applications. We can say, modestly, that it applies everywhere in the world.
Type : PRODUCT / PROJECT
Patent : GRANTED
Year : 2017→
Status : R&D, ASSEMBLY CONFIRMED
Studio : VS-A.DESIGN
Next Step : PROJECT GRANTED RESEARCH FUNDING FROM HK GOVERNMENT IN 2020. MANUFACTURING @ 1:1 SCALE AND PERFORMANCE TESTING IS ON-GOING
Value-engineering can be a difficult stage for the Architect when it ends up compromising on design aspects. The sentiment is also shared by the façade consultant; particularly when budget erodes quality; or worse, when safety is impacted with respect to ambiguously worded regulatory codes.
We have sought to mitigate the compromising nature of value engineering by asking ourselves the question:
What is the most cost-efficient fully glazed unitized curtain wall?’
The brief is minimal, and focuses solely on providing the acceptable minimum with regards to facade performance and local regulatory codes.
The result is something that’s quite unique; both in terms of geometry and costs. What’s most surprising is that the result looks as bespoke and hence not too dissimilar from an ‘expensive’ façade. Afterall, the effort that went into the design of this system is approximately equal to the typical VS-A project.