Raudel Solis Posted April 2, 2011 Posted April 2, 2011 [/ATTACH] give me your opinion could this exist in the real world as is? my answer is no, but i could be wrong i managed to finish this in only 2-4 hours of total use typical glass frame is set up and waterproofed with sillicon or a similar type of sealant. dimensions 35*15 slab 6" thickness "standard for commercial projects top of slab @ 0' above sea level "0 elevation" Aluminum material .5" thick plastic Ehh i could not think of a way to incorporate a door yet Max height estimated at 10' to 10' 6" the 4 corners are almost solid they just have a -.5" inset for the glass... the rest are all 4x4, technically since the glass splits them down the middle its 4 lenght by 1.75" Quote
Jack_O'neill Posted April 2, 2011 Posted April 2, 2011 You will need some steel to hold the roof up, but there is a commercial curtainwall product just for such applications. You'll have to slope the top in at least one direction and provide a means of draining it off, or rainwater /snow will pool on the glass and bring the roof crashing down. Check a manufacturer like Kawneer for a product called "slope-glaze". The header over the door opening won't work. You'll need to attach it just to the insides of the door opening, with steel in the frame going vertically. If that horizontal run-through look is important, it can be faked. The door will attach to one of the vertical members and will nest against another extrusion fastened to the verticals and the door header. In the very bottom openings, the glass can't sit on the floor like that either. You'll need to run a perimeter horizontal around the bottom with a glass pocket to have something to seal to and protect the glass. There are a number of commercial products available that will do this for you. Kawneer, Efco, Vistawall, and YKK are the more recognizable brands, and there are many others. They all have a lot of information on thier sites about how things go together. As you read through these sites, you'll see that the glass is actually sitting on rubber blocks inside a glass pocket in the extrustions, held in place by rubber gaskets and silicone sealant. This is necessary to allow for the natural movement of the building in wind or under snow loads. Thermal expansion of the metal holding the glass is also accounted for this way. Otherwise the first time the wind blows you'll have shards of glass all over the inside of your building. Quote
Organic Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 The second image looks good. As above, structurally it might work given there is no load on top (i.e. you wouldn't want to stand on top of it), if there was or if there is enough wind wherever such a design was built it wouldn't stand up very well. Think of LEGO bricks. If you have a wall of bricks like stacked vertically upon each other it is not as strong as a wall of bricks where the previous row is interlocked by the next row as seen in real houses. the second design is clearly stronger and will better resist shear forces and your LEGO house won't fall down or break apart as easily. Quote
Jack_O'neill Posted April 3, 2011 Posted April 3, 2011 Did a little calculation just so you'll understand better what I meant about the water pooling on top. You didn't say how big your openings for the glass were, but using the 4x4 size you gave for the frame members I estimated your openings to be 3 feet by 3 feet. If that is the case, and using your 1/2" thick glass as an example, that gives an area that is 36 x 36 x 1.75 deep. That may not sound like much water, but if you figure that up, its a volume of 2268 cubic inches, which converts to just short of 10 gallons of water in each opening. There are about 25 openings visible in the shot you posted, so there could be 250 gallons of water holding overhead in just what we can see. At approximately 8.3 pounds per gallon, that comes out to 2075 pounds. The way to cure that problem is to bring the glass to the top to minimize the pools, and to slope the top so the rain/melted snow that does collect can run off as quickly as possible. this link will show you an example of how to do that. http://www.kawneer.com/kawneer/north_america/catalog/pdf/overhead_glazing/1600_SG--F.pdf Quote
Raudel Solis Posted April 3, 2011 Author Posted April 3, 2011 hmm well i guess someone needs to design a super strong alloy that weighs nothing but supports tons, ... il work on a 4 sided roof / half an octagon Quote
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