Aluminium
‘ GLASS OR CONCRETE FACADES ?’
The environmentalists tell us we have to stop building our glass skyscrapers as they are simply unsustainable and that we should be using much higher thermal performance wall construction with punched openings for windows . They go on to say that as we embrace our low-carbon future , this will be the death knell for our glazed high rise cities , but are they right ?
BY PHIL SLINGER CAB CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Often the discussion against the use of glazed buildings starts with the problems that were experienced with ground breaking Crystal Palace , built to house the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 . Constructed of plate glass and cast iron , on sunny days organisers had to cover parts of the structure to help reduce the temperature to make it accessible for visitors . Sadly destroyed by fire in 1936 , this glass structure has influenced our passion for extensively glazed buildings . The comparison of Crystal Palace to today ’ s high rise buildings is not a fair one , technology of course has moved on since the 1850s .
In 2014 architect Ken Shuttleworth famously denounced his own design of what was known then as ‘ the Gherkin ’ saying that he would not have designed the building the same way if he had the chance again . Shuttleworth has since become one of the faces of the anti-glazed buildings movement in the UK , but , built with today ’ s technology of twin skin facades and high insulation glazing , the Gherkin , better known now as ‘ 30 St Mary Axe ’, would be much more environmentally friendly building with a lower carbon footprint .
There have been errors , big ones , in some of our extensively glazed structures , the Walkie Talkie building in London for example . On sunny days the building began to damage
34 DECEMBER 2022 CLEARVIEW-UK . COM