DESIGN WITH GLASS: After All These Years, It Still Has An Edge

Glass, one of man’s oldest and simplest products, has been around for thousands of years. Paradoxically, though, glass has always been a symbol of modernity to architects. For centuries, they’ve endeavored to incorporate more of it into their buildings. The ingenious flying buttresses  of the Gothic cathedrals, for example, served one major purpose:  to free up more wall area for windows.

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, England—the
sixteenth-century's most celebrated glass house.

In Elizabethan England, window glass remained a very expensive commodity, and the size of a home’s windows was a fair indicator of its owner’s wealth. One ostentatious example, Bess of Hardwick’s manor house of 1590, had so many huge windows that awestruck commoners dubbed it “Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall.”

Centuries later, glass remained a favorite material of Modernist architects such as Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. To them, a house swathed entirely in glass was the ultimate expression of Modernism. In 1950, the architect Philip Johnson built himself exactly such a house, and legions of less talented architects regrettably followed suit.

Another era's most celebrated glass house—
that of Modernist architect Philip Johnson,
in New Canaan, Connecticut.

In recent years, rising energy costs and a related concern for energy efficiency have made glass-walled homes more difficult to design. Yet glass still presents a remarkable palette to the creative designer.  The trick is to concentrate on quality, not size. So next time you’re ready to settle for a plain old clear glass window, consider one of these alternatives instead:

•  Patterned glass offers a range of surface textures ranging from fluting, grids, or circles to that good old “cracked ice” effect. Patterning diffuses the light passing through, cutting down on glare and creating an even level of daylighting. Because patterned glass is translucent rather than transparent, it’s especially useful in situations where privacy is desirable, such as in bathroom windows, interior glazed doors or glass partitions.

•  Colored glass, used sparingly in combination with plain glass, can produce dazzling highlights created by the sun shining through the glass. During late Victorian times, colored glass was often was used as a decorative border surrounding clear glass window panes, creating interiors awash with a kaleidoscope of colored light. While such uses may still be a bit too flamboyant for contemporary taste, the current traditionalist trend makes colored glass a likely candidate for future window designs.

Leaded and beveled glass can add lovely
highlights to a room, though only
only if it's placed where it will
get direct sun.

•  Leaded glass (which isn’t necessarily “stained glass”) has clear, colored, painted, or beveled glass pieces set in metal “cames” or channels that create an image or geometric pattern. In addition to looking great, the various colors, textures, and surface angles of leaded glass can create spectacular reflections on interior surfaces (just remember to locate the glass where the sun can reach it). A large selection of leaded glass is once again available in stock patterns. There are also many talented leaded glass artists who’ll design custom pieces for windows and doors. Don’t go overboard, however;  elaborate works can range into the hundreds of dollars per square foot.

•  Finally, while you’re thinking about looks, don’t forget safety. The Uniform Building Code requires tempered glass—a special heat-treated glass many times stronger than standard window glass—in windows whose sills are within 18” of the floor, as well as in glass doors and sidelights and in many areas of stairwells. Why? You remember that time Aunt Hulga tried to walk through the sliding door. . .