Structural Glass Columns in a World War II German Hangar

Abstract

In the woods / heather fields north of Arnhem (NL) the German invaders built in 1941 a complete new airfield called Deelen.  To allow the airplanes being driven into the maintenance hangars an ingenious wooden roof structure was developed that enabled the complete front wall of the hangar building to be removed. After the World War II this hangar functioned as a storage room for potatoes. Maintenance was minimal resulting in 2010 in a seriously endangered condition of this building. In the meantime the buildings of the old airfield were declared historic monuments. Minimal repairs were undertaken, one of them being the reduction of the roof span of 23 meter by two big steel supports in three parts. The building is now developed to be a centre for small cultural activities. To reduce the big temporarily steel support frames to a functional, and visible, minimum we suggested to replace them by glass columns. We had experimented with glass structures at the Delft University of Technology. Study lead to a bundled column of massive borosilicate glass bars, diameter 30 mm, all glued together in a bundle with a length of about 3.5 meter. Two glass columns, one with a square cross section and one with a hexagonal cross section, were produced by the firm G&SS. Both glass columns were tested in the Stevin laboratory of the University of Technology. The two glass columns could easily carry the maximum safety load of the roof of the old hangar. So they were certificated by the University in short report. In the summer  of 2026 the two glass columns will be installed in monument.