TKTS – Tilted Glass Bearing Walls and Glass Roof

Abstract

The TKTS booth in Times Square, New York, is a 250m2 all glass public amphitheater, with seating for 500 people. Its all glass load path includes treads, rafters and the 4.9m tall SentryGlas laminated walls. The 9.1m long beams were spliced using the overlap method with pins. The glass walls hold the full weight of the structure above, and in the real world environment of Times Square there are many possible causes of sudden failure including vehicle impact. A redundancy system was developed that accounts for the complete loss of one or two panels. In order to eliminate the need for metal lateral bracing, the treads were structurally siliconed to the rafters. A number of tests were conducted to confirm the validity of design concepts. This paper reviews the structural concepts behind the design, the fabrication methods, and the testing that was completed.