Beurs van Berlage

This glass cube is the first large frameless glass construction in The Netherlands. Because it concerns a music hall, the acoustic demands were high. Firstly, the glass interior space has an acoustically isolated function in relation to the surrounding spaces. Secondly, acoustically absorbent panels, acrylic domes and polyester sails guarantee good indoor acoustics.
The main construction consists of round steel hollow sections and a steel spaceframe roof. The glass panels are stabilized by means of vertical tensile trusses. The shape of these trusses is derived from kinked intersecting moment lines.
The dead load of the vertical glass panels is lead to the upper panels with a bespoke welded ‘frog finger’-shaped connection, the predecessor of the Quattro nodes. Because of the minimal thickness of eight milimeters glass panels, a bolted connection was impossible due to the compressive and shear stresses. Instead, a pre-stressed bolted connection in a wide hole has been applied with a round disk and sandpaper for maximum friction. The upper panels are carrying the glass panels underneath, which make the surface a suspended facade.