Why Glass, Glazing & Panel Systems Need Specialized Engineering
Why Glass, Glazing & Panel Systems Need Specialized Engineering
Ever Notice Which Way the Liability Rolls?
Commercial glazing contractors know the feeling.
The GC wants the price down.
The schedule needs to move faster.
The architect has designed an increasingly complex façade.
The manufacturer has limitations and exclusions associated with its system.
The structural engineer has designed the building—but usually not the glazing system attaching to it.
And the specifications contain some variation of:
“Delegated Design.”
“Engineering by Others.”
“Contractor Shall Verify.”
Eventually, a remarkable amount of responsibility rolls downhill.
And quite often, the glass, glazing or panel contractor is standing at the bottom of the hill.
That’s why choosing engineering based primarily on the lowest fee can be a dangerous business strategy.
The engineering and drafting team responsible for the façade may be one of the relatively small line items in a multimillion-dollar glazing package—but they can also be one of the best opportunities to identify risk before glass is ordered, metal is fabricated or crews are standing in the field.
At JEI Structural Engineering, our 23-person team specializes in the engineering and drafting of glass, glazing, curtain wall, storefront, window wall, structural glass, railings, canopies, sunshades, mixed-material panels, cladding and other specialty façade systems.
Across hundreds of projects each year, we see many of the same risks repeatedly.
But those risks look different depending upon where you sit in the construction process.
GLAZING CONTRACTORS
You’re Often the One Catching the Liability
The glazing contractor may have the greatest exposure of anyone in this chain.
You inherit the architectural requirements, structural conditions, specifications, manufacturer limitations, GC schedule and delegated-design responsibility—and then have to turn all of it into something that can actually be fabricated and installed.
Common problems we encounter include:
- Building movement that isn’t adequately coordinated with the glazing system
- Storefront, curtain wall or window wall systems that cannot accommodate the specified movement
- Mullion deflection and structural capacity issues
- Strong-axis versus weak-axis conditions at corners
- Anchorage conditions that don’t match what was assumed
- Insufficient substrates or edge distances
- Embed, pour-stop and weld coordination
- Glass bite and glass-support concerns
- Splice locations and movement-joint limitations
- Thermal movement
- Installation tolerances
- Connection and hardware issues
- Guardrail and railing deflection requirements
- Conditions shown in the architectural drawings that don’t match the manufacturer’s system limitations
- Specifications that assign responsibilities the contractor may not realize it has accepted
And every one of these can eventually become a glazing contractor problem.
An experienced façade engineer shouldn’t simply calculate what the contractor gives them.
They should be looking for what the contractor may not know to ask about.
How JEI helps protect glazing contractors
JEI works as an extension of the glazing contractor’s project team.
We help identify engineering and constructability issues, communicate directly with other design professionals when appropriate, work through RFIs, coordinate building movement and attachment requirements, and help keep engineering from becoming another item your PM has to chase.
And because JEI offers Engineering & Drafting Under One Roof, our drafters provide another set of experienced eyes.
While developing shop and fabrication drawings, they’re looking at the actual conditions the engineers are designing.
Sometimes the question that protects a project begins with a drafter asking:
“Wait. How is this actually going to attach?”
That’s exactly the kind of question we want asked before fabrication.
GENERAL CONTRACTORS
Delegated Design Doesn’t Eliminate Façade Risk
A GC may successfully delegate the engineering of a glazing or panel system.
That doesn’t mean the project risk disappeared.
A curtain wall failure, broken glass condition, leaking envelope, railing problem or major façade change order is still a project problem.
One of the recurring concerns JEI sees is the gap between the building structural design and the delegated façade design.
Consider building movement.
The structural engineer establishes how the building may move.
The architect specifies a glazing system.
The glazing contractor eventually hires an engineer to design that system.
But who verifies that the selected system, connections and details can actually accommodate the movement being transferred to them?
That coordination gap can remain hidden through design and submittals.
It may not reveal itself until installation—or even after occupancy.
How JEI helps protect General Contractors
JEI can provide an independent technical layer through:
Third-Party Façade Reviews
Delegated-Design Reviews
Building Envelope Risk Reviews
Specification Reviews
Submittal Reviews
Movement Coordination
Constructability Reviews
The objective isn’t to add another consultant or another meeting.
It is to identify significant glass, glazing and façade problems while they are still relatively inexpensive to solve.
A five-minute engineering conversation today can be considerably cheaper than a field fix six months from now.
ARCHITECTS
Protect the Design Intent Before Delegated Design Begins
Architects face a difficult challenge with increasingly sophisticated façades.
You establish the appearance and performance expectations for the building, but much of the final engineering is delegated downstream.
That creates a potential gap between:
what was designed, what was specified, what the selected system can actually do, and what eventually gets engineered.
Specifications can also unintentionally create conflicts.
A specified movement requirement, for example, may exceed the capabilities of a selected storefront or glazing system.
The problem doesn’t necessarily become obvious during architectural design.
It becomes obvious when someone eventually has to engineer the connection.
By then, the glazing contractor has the job, products may have been selected and the construction schedule is moving.
How JEI helps protect Architects
Bring specialized façade engineering into the process earlier.
JEI provides Design Assist, specification review, façade risk review, movement coordination and third-party technical review to help architects identify conditions that could compromise their design intent later.
We understand the engineering behind glass and glazing systems—and we understand the practical realities of getting them fabricated and installed.
That combination helps bridge the gap between design intent and delegated design.
OWNERS & DEVELOPERS
The Cheapest Time to Solve a Façade Problem Is Before It’s Built
Owners ultimately inherit the building.
They also inherit its problems.
A value-engineering decision during construction may look attractive on a spreadsheet.
It becomes considerably less attractive if it contributes to glass breakage, water intrusion, excessive movement, failed connections, replacement materials, warranty disputes or façade repairs after occupancy.
And façade problems can be particularly expensive because access alone can become a major cost.
How JEI helps protect Owners & Developers
Independent façade engineering provides another set of specialized eyes before the building becomes your long-term responsibility.
JEI can provide:
- Third-Party Façade Reviews
- Building Envelope Risk Reviews
- Design Assist
- Specification Reviews
- Delegated-Design Reviews
- Existing-building assessments
- Constructability reviews
- Movement and connection reviews
The purpose is straightforward:
Find expensive façade problems while they’re still inexpensive façade problems.
CLADDING & PANEL CONTRACTORS
The Panel Isn’t Usually the Hard Part. The Connection Is.
Metal panels, ACM/MCM systems, insulated panels and other mixed-material façade systems introduce their own engineering challenges.
Wind pressure has to travel through the panel system, rails, clips, fasteners and connections and ultimately reach the building structure.
The façade may also be attached to cold-formed steel, embeds, concrete, structural steel or other substrates—each with different limitations.
And architectural geometry doesn’t always make those load paths simple.
How JEI helps protect Panel Contractors
JEI provides specialized engineering and drafting for:
- Panel attachment systems
- Wind-load analysis
- Rails, clips and fasteners
- Connection engineering
- Substrate coordination
- Cold-formed steel interfaces
- Shop drawings
- Fabrication drawings
- BIM coordination
- Project-specific engineering
Again, engineering and drafting working together matters.
The goal isn’t simply to prove that an individual component works.
The entire load path has to work.
CURTAIN WALL, GLAZING & BUILDING-PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS
A Tested Product Still Has to Work on the Actual Building
Manufacturers invest heavily in developing and testing products.
But laboratory testing and product approvals don’t eliminate project-specific engineering.
Real buildings introduce:
- Different opening sizes
- Different wind pressures
- Different substrates
- Different edge conditions
- Different attachment configurations
- Different building movements
- Different installation tolerances
- Different combinations of products
A product can perform exactly as designed and still be used incorrectly on a particular project.
How JEI helps protect Manufacturers
JEI can provide the technical bridge between the product and the project through:
- Project-specific engineering
- Engineering overflow
- Attachment design
- Wind charts and load analysis
- Product application reviews
- Shop and fabrication drawings
- Florida Product Approval engineering support
- Other approval and compliance support
That helps manufacturers support customers without unnecessarily assuming responsibility for conditions outside the product’s intended use.
SPECIALTY GLASS & COMPLEX FAÇADE SYSTEMS
When “Typical” Details Stop Being Typical
Structural glass, glass railings, canopies, skylights, sunshades, fins, specialty glazing and other architecturally ambitious systems often don’t fit neatly into standard details.
The glass may be the most visually dramatic part of the building.
The connection is often where the real engineering challenge lives.
Hardware behavior, glass support, deflection, tolerances, movement, anchorage and interaction with adjacent materials all matter.
These are exactly the places where generalized structural engineering experience and specialized façade experience are not necessarily the same thing.
JEI’s niche is the latter.
ZOO & AQUARIUM DESIGN TEAMS
When Façade Engineering Also Becomes Life-Safety Engineering
Zoo and aquarium projects take specialty glazing into another category entirely.
Structural glass and viewing systems may simultaneously serve architectural, structural and containment functions.
Failure isn’t merely an inconvenience.
That makes load paths, glass selection, support conditions, connections, redundancy and system behavior particularly important.
JEI works with zoo and aquarium design teams through design and delegated engineering, helping bridge the unusual gap between architectural vision, specialty glazing and structural performance.
THE GROWING LIST OF WATCHDOGS
There is another boulder rolling down the hill.
Scrutiny.
Depending upon the project and jurisdiction, contractors and design teams may encounter Florida Product Approval, Texas Department of Insurance requirements, FM Approvals, project-specific third-party reviews and other increasingly sophisticated requirements.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Buildings are becoming more complicated, façades are becoming more ambitious, and owners expect better performance.
But increased scrutiny makes specialized knowledge more valuable.
A quality façade engineer should help clients understand:
What applies?
What doesn’t?
What does the specification actually require?
Does the proposed system comply?
And what is the most practical way to solve the problem?
So, Which Way Does the Liability Roll?
Usually downhill.
From owner requirements…
to architectural specifications…
to delegated design…
to manufacturers…
to general contractors…
and eventually toward the specialty contractor responsible for making the façade work.
That’s why we don’t believe façade engineering should be treated as simply a stamp at the end of the process.
The best opportunity to protect a project comes from putting experienced people in a position to recognize problems early, ask better questions and help solve them.
Our engineers do that.
Our drafters do that.
And when they work together, they become a team standing beside the people carrying the glass—not another boulder rolling toward them.
PUT A FAÇADE ENGINEERING TEAM ON YOUR SIDE.
Engineering & Drafting Under One Roof
WE TEACH. WE PROTECT. WE CARE.
JEIstructural.com
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