Question: How do building get built on the outside of the building?

Roma Agrawal answered on 19 Jun 2014:

Hi Harry,

Great question. The outside of a building is known as façade, and there is a whole branch of engineering named after this called façade engineering. We have a whole department in our office devoted to it. It really depends on how big the building is, where it located and how big the element being fixed to the outside of the building is. On the Shard for example, we used cranes to install the large window panes that you can see from the outside. On smaller buildings, like houses for example, a scaffold frame might built outside of the building and then the windows/brickwork might be manually installed. When glass is installed onto of a building careful consideration needs to be taken over the effects of sunlight. For example the Walkie Talkie building, renamed the Death Ray building, had a curved front. When the sun hit the building it acted like a giant magnifying glass and melted the side of a car!!

Roma