King’s College, Henriette Raphael House, London

Structural Glass Screens

Project

Installing structural glass screens and panels to infill the arches on all four floors of the Henriette Raphael Turret at the Guy’s Hospital Campus, King’s College in London as part of the restoration of the tower.

Ion Glass providing all bespoke structural glass screens and glass infill panels. Project commissioned by Gunite Ltd on behalf of King’ s College.

Product

Bespoke arched glass infill panels, including four curved glass panels; two large arched glass screens comprising of three separate panels and a large arched glass screen to accommodate an existing concrete handrail, all supplied and fitted to external archways on four floors.

Overview

Opened in 1902, Henriette Raphael House is the first purpose built nurses’ home in London. The house was named after Henriette Raphael,  funded by donations from her merchant banker husband and her two sons.  It forms part of Guy’s Campus, adjacent to Guy’s Hospital and home to the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College.

The turret required significant restoration, especially as the open arches were exacerbating water ingress to the brickwork. Ion Glass were commissioned to provide bespoke arched glass screens and glass panels to enclose the arches on all four floors, including the curved arches on the cupola at the top of the turret.

Technical Information

Each structural glass screen and glass panel had to be individually measured for an accurate fit and supplied in either 21.5mm laminated and toughened glass or 10mm toughened glass.  The larger glass screens on the second and third floors, were manufactured from three separate glass panels with the glass interfaces sealed with translucent silicone for a seamless result.

The four panels to the cupola were curved to match the shape of the structure.

An existing concrete handrail on the first floor was accommodated into the glass screen, with the glass fitting perfectly around the shape of the handrail, supported on the bottom edge with a stainless steel channel installed across the full width of the opening.

The glass panels were all fitted using bespoke satin stainless steel bracketry commissioned by Ion Glass to fit the precise location for each individual fixing.

Ion Glass worked with Gunite to manage the installation logistics which required full scaffolding of the tower and the necessary lifting plant to move the larger panels of glass to the installation area.

  • The result looks impressive with the glass now fully enclosing the arches, weather proofing and preserving the building without compromising the visual aspect of this iconic turret in the centre of Guy’s Campus.

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