Design guide for sloped glazing and skylights updated for first time in 30 years

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) has updated a guide outlining considerations necessary for choosing glass for non-residential skylight and sloped glazing applications.

AAMA GDSG-1, Design Guide for Sloped Glazing and Skylights, an FGIA standard, describes the minimum requirements for sloped glazing as specified in the International Building Code (IBC). It was last updated in 1987, when it was first created.

“This design guide is intended to provide the responsible sloped glazing designer the necessary guidance in selecting the proper glass construction for non-residential skylight and sloped glazing applications where the glass is inclined 15 degrees or more from the vertical,” said Randy Heather (VELUX), chair of the Skylight Selection and Daylighting Design Guide Task Group. “Proper glass construction is intended to meet specified design loads and reduce the probability of glass breakage.

“Guidance is provided as to the types of loads to which a sloped glazing product may be subjected,” Heather said. “It discusses many of the differences in design considerations between vertical glazing and sloped glazing which must be taken into account.”

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.