Custom hardware helps make wave-like glass roof a reality

“As the Canada Line YVR - Airport Station is the gateway to Vancouver [British Columbia] for many international visitors, the structural glass roof over the platform level is a fundamental element of the station design,” said Guy Taylor, project manager/ senior designer, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd.

The basics: A striking 325-foot curved wave-like glass roof greets visitors to the new Canada Line Rapid Transit System. This glass design was made a reality, in part, by custom point-supported glass fittings. The roof, perched more than 60 feet in the air, features steel beams that form the shape, curving in two directions and challenging designers and engineers to find a way for the flat rigid glass to follow the curved lines of the beams. The glass roof provides ample transparency, was cost-effective and designed for easy installation, and is strong enough to withstand wind and snow loads, as well as seismic events, according to officials from Stella Custom Glass Hardware Inc.

The players: Architect, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning, Vancouver; custom hardware supplier, Stella Custom Glass Hardware Inc., Richmond, British Columbia; glazing contractor, Glastech Contracting BC Ltd., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia; general contractor, SNC Lavalin, Vancouver; glass fabricator, roof glass supplier, Glass 3 Enterprises Ltd., Langley, British Columbia; steel supplier, George Third and Son, Burnaby, British Columbia.

The glass and systems: 12-millimeter tempered laminated glass in the curved glass roof; stainless steel brackets that support the panels of glass at its four corners, maximizing transparency, that lift up and down to accommodate the curves of the glass roof; custom connectors that join the glass and steel, adjusting to accommodate the varied angles of the roof beams and the glass.