Tensegified Folded Glass Shells and Domes

Glass will not only be used as a transparent cladding but can be load-bearing part of the whole structure system. This paper will survey the structural capabilities of glass in Rhombus-Wing-Element folded plates system with high rate of transparency which provides the ability of covering wide spans by its moment resistant structure; but high tensile stresses increase height of folded plate sections to resist the imposed bending moment on the structure which causes decreasing of system field numbers and considerable loss of delicacy in the whole view of the structure. In this case reinforcing glass structure by cable and tensegrity systems will help to cover the weak point of glass which is in tension stresses. In this case, cables will help the section to bear bending moments and accept a considerable part of tension which decreases the tensile stress on glass structure and allow covering of wider spans by increasing the load bearing capacity and helps to have less height in sections and more fineness in the whole structure view. The structural concept and it’s characteristics in different conditions is confirmed by Finite Element Analysis which puts the effect of supporting tensegrity system on structural capabilities of the whole system and it’s fineness into focus that is an important architectural point, in comparison with the whole glass folded plates. So by using a combination of glass folded plates and tensegrity systems we will have structures with more load bearing capacity for covering of wide spans and acceptable transparency with considerable fineness and beauty.