Module 6 A Visit From David Green, Curtain Wall Consultant

David Green is an architect working out San Francisco who specializes in glass curtain wall systems. Curtain walls are the exterior shell of a skyscraper which has no structural obligation to the building. Curtain walls functions are both aesthetic and functional. Functional because it keeps the harsh environment out of the interior of a building and aesthetic by giving a building its style and appearance as seen in the image below.

David Green instructed the class that the glass from skyscrapers are made of float glass and that there are only five manufacturers of float glass in the United States. Green also explained that in order to produce this type of glass the float glass plants must stay running continuously. There are many types of glass but the one that caught my interest was the glass used on the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada. In order to attain the gold reflection desired solid gold bars where vaporized into the glass that drapes the Mirage.

By the end of class Green had covered all aspects of glass and curtain wall fabrication which left me content to know that there is more to architecture then designing.