Glass Cast: A Reconfigurable Tooling System for Free-Form Glass Manufacturing

Abstract

Despite glass’s ubiquity in the modern built environment it is rarely applied in applications requiring complex curvature. The high temperatures and complexity of techniques utilized in forming curved glass panels are typically very expensive to employ, requiring dedicated hard-tooling which ultimately limits the formal variation that can be achieved. This combination of economic and manufacturing barriers limits both the formal possibilities and potentially the overall envelope-performance characteristics of the glazing system. This research investigates a methodology for utilizing reconfigurable tooling to form glass into doubly curved geometries, offering the potential for improved structural and environmental performance in a material that has remained largely unchanged since the advent of its industrial manufacturing. A custom built forming kiln has been developed and tested, integrated through a parametric modeling workflow to provide manufacturing constraint feedback directly into the design process. The research also investigates the post-form trimming of glass utilizing robotic abrasive waterjet cutting, allowing for the output of machine control data directly from the digital model. The potentials of the methodologies developed in this process are shown through the fabrication of a full-scale installation. By integrating material, fabrication, and design constraints into a streamlined computational methodology, the process also serves as a model for a more intuitive production workflow, expanding the understanding of glass as a material with wide-ranging possibilities for a more performative architecture.