Prestessed cable net facades

The invention of prestressed cable net facade for the Hotel Kempinski in Munich in 1989/1990 by Prof. Jörg Schlaich represents a milestone on the way to an optimum transparency of glass walls. This innovation influenced the glass architecture afterwards very significantly which have led to many applications all around the world. Due to a missed patent protection this idea has been duplicated worldwide as well. The load-bearing structure consists of a planar single-layer cable net which is prestressed. At the intersection points of the cable net the quadratic or rectangular glass panes are fastened in the corners without drilling through the glass. Thus the cables are situated directly behind the glass joints which leads to the advantage that they are nearly non-visible as a structural element. Like a tennis racket this structure needs load-bearing edges, which are able either to absorb or even better to directly compensate the prestressing forces.

 

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