Glass curtain wall architecture was introduced into China in the 1980s. China produces 70 million square meters of glass curtain walls every year, accounting for 75 per cent of the world's output. At the same time, at that time, China had 200 million square meters of glass curtain walls, accounting for 85% of the world's total. With the pace of building "modern cities" in China in recent years, this number is still rising.

Why do buildings use so much glass curtain walls?

First of all, this is related to the popular architectural design style in recent years, and more importantly, the glass curtain wall has strong practicability.

Compared with concrete structures, the use of glass curtain walls can increase the volume ratio of buildings by several percentage points, and the construction period is only 75% of that of concrete structures. For super high-rise buildings with a total floor area of 100000 square meters, the shortening of the construction period is very important.

In addition, because the weight of the glass curtain wall is relatively small, generally 49-90 kg per square meter, which is equivalent to the traditional material 1 big 8 to 1 big 5, so almost all the buildings above 500 meters use glass curtain wall, which can not be achieved by any other material.

The problems caused by the glass curtain wall are unbearable

A large number of glass curtain walls are used in public buildings, which is determined by the aesthetics of a specific historical period. Today, this form of wall is changing to the direction of low cost and high popularity, and the initial modern, international and mysterious aura of the glass curtain wall is gradually fading.

In some countries, as early as the late 1980s, they began to restrict the use of glass curtain walls in the exterior decoration of buildings. After finding that there are many safety risks and not enough environmental protection in the glass curtain wall, the use of the glass curtain wall is restricted and the use of large area glass curtain wall is prohibited.

The first reason for the cautious use of large area glass curtain walls is environmental protection. The unit energy consumption ratio of windows and walls in general buildings is 6:1, but the "glass" buildings use glass curtain walls in a large area, thus giving rise to the phenomenon of "cold in winter and hot in summer". Most skyscrapers have to increase their power and turn on the air conditioner to adjust the room temperature. Heating in winter is prior to other buildings, and cooling in summer is prior to other buildings. The high energy consumption is shocking. The energy consumption of glass buildings in direct light or Dangyang is more than 4 times that of ordinary buildings. The Institute of Architectural Sciences has made a calculation that every 5 square meters of daylighting area of buildings with glass curtain walls in summer need to be offset by one horse of air conditioning, while 20 square meters of ordinary buildings need to be cooled by one horse of air conditioning.

The second reason is light pollution. The light pollution of the glass curtain wall means that the coated glass or coated glass is used on the curtain wall of the high-rise building. When the direct sunlight and sky light shines on the glass surface, the reflection glare caused by the mirror reflection of the glass. Light pollution not only affects the health of the surrounding residents, strong light through reflection into the high-speed car, will cause the driver vision illusion, but also may cause traffic accidents.

It is time to pay attention to the safety of glass curtain walls

Although there are no restrictions on the use of glass curtain walls, in recent years, more and more policy attention has been paid to the safety of glass curtain walls. In view of the continuous occurrence of glass curtain wall accidents, it is clearly required that glass curtain walls should not be used in new houses on the second floor or above.

In addition, the technical specification of glass curtain wall also needs to be improved. The specification requires that high-rise glass curtain walls must use safety glass and double-layer glue-filled safety glass. Although the double-layer glue-filled safety glass is better than the ordinary safety glass in warmth, safety and other properties, but because its cost is much higher, so developers choose ordinary safety glass to save costs. Now that so many years have passed, for safety and environmental reasons, it is time to revise the technical specifications to raise the level of mandatory installation of glass.

Of course, in addition to the improvement of safety standards for new buildings, the maintenance of glass curtain walls in existing buildings is also very important. Just as people need regular medical check-ups, so do glass curtain walls. Good maintenance and maintenance can maximize its service life. However, if there is no maintenance and maintenance of the glass curtain wall for a long time, the security risks will be greatly increased.

The above is the introduction of the security risks of the glass curtain wall. If you want to know more about the glass curtain wall, please feel free to contact us.