Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

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steveve said:
I remember the original 1 Bloor was marketed with a type of balcony with sliding glass that could be used to convert the space into a (semi?) indoor extension of the unit. Was also said it would create unique patterns on the facade of the building. Not sure if that would ever have worked but I like the idea in concept.
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This is being done at a 22 storey tower in Vancouver with metal screens - see pics here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6774252&postcount=210

Jury's out til it's done.
 
Question: Since the glass they're using for the balconies is opaque, would it be considered spandrel?
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Technically, the glass on the balconies is spandrel glass. What makes it a spandrel isn't its opacity, it's that it covers up the edge of slab. On this forum spandrel gets used to describe any glass that isn't vision, which isn't the way the term is properly used.
 
whatever said:
Technically, the glass on the balconies is spandrel glass. What makes it a spandrel isn't its opacity, it's that it covers up the edge of slab. On this forum spandrel gets used to describe any glass that isn't vision, which isn't the way the term is properly used.
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Swing and a miss. The term "spandrel" (glazing that covers slab edges / structure / insulated areas) has evolved and been expanded from its original meaning quite a bit, but glass panels used on balcony guards as seen above, are never referred to as spandrels. To speak "technically", using the term that way is incorrect and not the way we define spandrel in the industry. However, in the last image posted above, you can see a section of the structure just above the balconies which is covered in spandrel panels.

Hamiltonian said:
The glass they're using for balconies isn't full opaque.
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There is much more to the definition of a spandrel than the opacity of the glazing used. Spandrel panels have a back-pan and usually have insulation and structural elements (i.e. a concrete shear wall or slab edge) behind them.
 
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modern™ said:
Swing and a miss. The term "spandrel" (glazing that covers slab edges / structure / insulated areas) has evolved and been expanded from its original meaning quite a bit, but glass panels used on balcony guards as seen above, are never referred to as spandrels. To speak "technically", using the term that way is incorrect and not the way we define spandrel in the industry. However, in the last image posted above, you can see a section of the structure just above the balconies which is covered in spandrel panels.
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Without pulling credentials I'm probably more tied into "the industry" than you are. I'd agree that balustrade glazing is never referred to as spandrel, but strictly speaking it is. Speaking technically the spandrels on buildings like CHAZ and Ice (and almost all window wall projects, for that matter) are actually aluminium panels, not glass at all.
 
A spandrel is not one material vs. another. It's a building detail that has several components. The back-pan might be aluminum, but that doesn't mean a spandrel itself is aluminum. That's like saying that window-wall glazing is "glass". It's not glass; it's a system made of different components and materials.

You can speak in technicalities all you want, but I've never once in the architecture industry heard a balustrade system referred to as "spandrel".

For the sake of keeping discussion understandable and clear on UT and elsewhere, I think it's safe to say that the glazing on balustrades is not spandrel, to answer the original question. It can be entirely opaque, and it still is not spandrel.
 
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modern™ said:
A spandrel is not one material vs. another. It's a building detail that has several components. The back-pan might be aluminum, but that doesn't mean a spandrel itself is aluminum. That's like saying that window-wall glazing is "glass". It's not glass; it's a system made of different components and materials.

You can speak in technicalities all you want, but I've never once in the architecture industry heard a balustrade system referred to as "spandrel".

For the sake of keeping discussion understandable and clear on UT and elsewhere, I think it's safe to say that the glazing on balustrades is not spandrel, to answer the original question. It can be entirely opaque, and it still is not spandrel.
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Thank you all for your expert information. It seems then that strictly speaking these panes are, by definition spandrel, but in the industry they would be more correctly referred to as balcony glazing. That does indeed answer my question. Thanks again.
 
You're welcome. However, I was arguing that no, they are not spandrel (not referred to that way in the industry nor on UT) but rather are just laminated glass panes used as part of the balustrade system.
 
I vote that we revert to the ORIGINAL original meaning of "spandrel":

Spandrel.jpg


Opaque glass with back-pan, used in place of other non-glass cladding, could be called something else like "vitri-cladding".
 
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