Glass Canopy and Windscreen for Utrecht City Offices

To prevent possible wind nuisance at the public space in between the City Offices and the Central Station in Utrecht, a 21 meters high windscreen and a glass canopy have been developed in collaboration with Bouwcombinatie SKU and Kraaijvanger. These glass facilities are located near the large curtain wall of the City Offices, that has previously been completed by Octatube.

The canopy, with a free span of 17 meters, consists of two horizontal steel beams on top of which a glass roof will be assembled. This roof is only supported by two glass panels that are fixed at the ground level. Apart from these glass supporting elements, the glass roof panels are also form-active, resulting in a challenging glass structure.
The starting point for the windshield is to provide a shelter for the wind by means of transparent glass surface. By a stiff fixation of the vertical members at both the top and the bottom, the 21 meters high windshield can be realised in a very slender way.

The completion of these two glass structure is scheduled for the spring of 2014.