Plate shell structures of glass

A shell structure of glass combines a highly effective structural principle – the shell – with a material of unique aesthetic qualities – glass. Glass is often used as cladding material in lattice shell structures, where a spatial grid of bars and nodes constitutes the primary load bearing structure. Research at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, has shown the existence of a type of facetted shell structure, where the facets themselves constitute the load bearing system – the plate shell structure. The present work, done at the Technical University of Denmark, looks at the structural behaviour of plate shell structures, particularly with facets of glass. Guidelines for the structural design of plate shells are drawn up.