Modern facade design and smart glass technologies - Pascal Schappes, Marc Schmassmann - July 7th 2021 - Swiss Re

Modern facade design and
smart glass technologies
Pascal Schappes, Marc Schmassmann - July 7th 2021

Walkie-Talkie – The death ray building

• The Walkie-Talkie, located at 20 Fenchurch Street in London became
  famous for “melting” a Jaguar and other objects.

• during three weeks in summer and two hours per day, the concave shape
  of the facade did focus the sunlight onto adjacent streets (solar glare).

• Peak temperature readings between 91°C – 117°C were observed in
  summer 2013.

• Building got nick names like “Death ray building” or “Walkie-Scorchie”

• comparable issues at Vdara hotel in Las Vegas/USA

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Walkie-Talkie – The death ray building

awning was installed to
prevent the facade to act
as a burning glass

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Key message:

New designs can cause
unexpected challenges!

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A hypothetical scenario – The Gherkin as solar-energy plant

• Transparent solar cells can turn window and glass facades into
  power plants

• Example Gherkin – when constructed, the building was one of
  few high-rise buildings in that area

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2013

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A hypothetical scenario – The Gherkin as solar-energy plant

• 8 Years later, the area is full or high-rise buildings with a
  comparable height, creating shade on parts of the Gherkin

• shading will most likely result in a decrease of solar energy
  output

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2021

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Key message:

Keep an eye on urban planning to
avoid bad surprises!

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Curved glass and the shaping capacities

• HQ of former German truck manufacturer MAN
  (now part of Volkswagen)
• 2 glass elements with complex 3d-design (curved
  in two axes, orange), many more elements with
  2d-design (curved in one axis, red).
• the affected room actually was the meeting room
  of the supervisory board
• need to complete adjacent facade elements prior
  to in-place measuring
• only very limited capacities/suppliers to process
  the glass elements
• capacities bound for another project

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Elbphilharmonie,
Hamburg

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Curved glass and the shaping capacities

The completion of this room was delayed for several months and the facade had to be closed temporarily
with “dummy” elements made of plastic and painted wood.

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Key message:

When planning fancy or unusual
design, watch out for shortages
of production capacity!

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Smart glass – Chances and challenges

• New glass technologies will become more and more present in modern buildings

• Chances and new opportunities
 o Windows with integrated sun and sight protection (thermochromic, photochromic, electrochromic
   glass) can help to save energy (e. g. cooling)
 o Windows as solar-energy plant can importantly increase the share of renewable energies

• Challenges and risks
 o increasing design complexity meeting lack of experience (raising professional indemnity exposure)
 o increasing material costs, e. g. electrochromic 2.500€/m² vs. 550€/m² (raising loss potential)
 o increasing supply chain complexity and risk (raising potential of delivery shortages)
 o increasing maintenance effort and replacement costs (raising loss potential)

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For the construction
industry, glass clearly is
one of the main pillars to
build up an exciting and
sustainable future.

However, new ideas and
technologies also bring up
new challenges and risks.

We as Swiss Re are happy
to explore these new
waters together with you!

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Thank you!

Contact us
                                                             Follow us

Pascal Schappes               Marc Schmassmann
Senior Risk Engineer          Senior Risk Engineer
pascal_schappes@swissre.com   marc_schmassmann@swissre.com
+49 89 3844 1599              +41 43 285 27 24

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Pascal Schappes | July 2021   17

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