Modern Use of Glass
玻璃在建筑史中已经存在了很长时间,它弥漫着浓重的现代风格,成为现代建筑中最重要的部分之一。这种材料在保证最佳的室内舒适度的同时,仍然能保持近乎完美的透明度,可以帮助室内带来更多的光线,并且能反射外界环境,同时保证隐私。玻璃在建筑中的多样和创意利用,为人们的现代生活带来了更多的便利,也让人惊叹于它的可塑性。从使用规模来讲,对于玻璃而言,人们首先想到的是建筑空间中使用它可以达到最大限度的自然采光,尤其是在考虑到建造大型的玻璃表面时。现在的办公大楼常常会采用玻璃幕墙,它们不仅可以提供宽阔的视野,更可以为大楼节省很多能源。有时候玻璃可以用于建筑的构件,墙会阻挡视野,但玻璃可以让观众从特定的角度观赏建筑师所设计的景色,创造出一副独特的画面。玻璃的不同材质也可以带来不同的效果:全透明玻璃有助于采光,而磨砂玻璃或半透明的玻璃则可以在保持采光能力的基础上为保护隐私做出贡献。现如今随着科学技术的发展,玻璃的防撞击和阻燃能力都得到了提升,易碎的特性也得到了很大程度的解决。此外,玻璃可以在可持续发展方面有更大的作为。未来我们在生活中可能会更多的用到玻璃,以更加先进的方式去设计和使用这一独特的建筑材料。
Though present for a long time in the history of architecture, glass pervades the contemporary style owing to being one of the most defining parts of modern architecture as a whole. Glass – the material which allows nearly perfect transparency while still insuring an optimal interior comfort, glass which can reflect the outside environment or just allow a translucent flow of natural light while retaining privacy… The diverse and often times creative use of glass in architecture is astounding and modern technology has brought it to a more economical and energy sustainable level.
From the point of view of scale, maybe the first thing about glass in architecture that comes to mind is its ability to fill interior space with lots of natural light, especially when considering large glazed surfaces. Often these surfaces, found usually in a living room in a residential house, or in a curtain wall system of an office building, not only illuminate the space naturally, but also offer a wide, even panoramic, view of the exterior, which could be views of nature or of surrounding urban area or city skyline. So, intrinsically, glass is also related to perspective and vantage points. Thus, it allows visual connection between the interior and the exterior - another symbolic part of the use of glass, namely relating and connecting.
On the other hand, a different approach to large-scale glazed openings described before is the use of small glass windows, appearing in a full wall which can very poetically frame a specific point of interest from the exterior: a tree, a building or a mountain. These so called Zen views have the exact opposite effect of panoramic views: the surrounding full wall hides the view, and only lets the viewer perceive the selected point of interest from a specific angle in a specific frame, creating a painting-like feel to it.
Going forward from the different application of glass through the scale of glazed openings in the façade, we come to the physical properties of the material itself. The use of glass can be fine-tuned for specific needs, taking advantage of different degrees of transparency and reflectivity that it can have. From the perfect transparent panoramic views of a penthouse or a street level shopping glass façade - open, barely existing, open and inviting into interaction - to the opaque yet translucent glass used for openings which need to hide private quarters of a building, yet still allowing natural light to enter the space, albeit in a soft filtered manner.
These two different qualities also define the nature of light inside: the first, the nature of light creating strong contrasts and sharp shadows, the second offering a balanced and soft light and atmosphere inside. Also used for different degrees of privacy is glass with full or partial reflectance: for example a building with commercial ground floor may choose a perfectly transparent glass for its shopping level, while increasing the reflectance of the glass gradually in its more private upper floors. The reflective glass also doubles up as a light filter, and often glass can be darkened for the same purpose.
Glass also became more and more varied in use to the complementary technological solutions developed over time: different materials used for the joinery, like wood, metal etc. and different technological solutions holding the glass, from the classic joinery to curtain wall systems, minimalistic anchor details of glass panels and so on. Solutions abound even from the energetic points of view: 3 or more layers of glass can provide a good thermal coefficient, and are thus more sustainable energy wise. The internal or external shading systems, ventilation solutions, technical details provide relief to even the most arid or hot climate. Glass can be treated and produced with different degrees of protection against impact or fire. All in all, for any given scenario there is likely already a solution available, so creativity can run free with the use of glass in architecture, as it surely already has.
Even more creative designs come in form of different applications of curved or structural glass. Why not make a concrete slab appear like floating? It has been done, using transparent structural glass for the building’s structure and envelope. Since then, structural glass has been used in all sorts of inspired designs, ranging from other floating structures to glass slabs on which you can walk and see underneath the building, for example, on skyscraper console or in bridges crossing very tall canyons.
Nowadays, glass has been literally used creatively in architecture, whether by shape, properties or colour, as the exquisite examples of decorative glass produced in Murano. Feel inspired and use glass in a modern way in your home or designs! The technology is here to implement it!