Vitrum! Vitrum!
Can you imagine life without glass? From the
glass you drink from to the screen where you are reading these letters, all is
glass. It is a material with many uses and is very practical. In the beginning
it was not like that, they say that it was discovered by chance (like almost
everything) in ancient Egypt and its use was exclusively for jewellery and to
protect ointments. Later the Syrians found a better way of manufacturing. The
technique was to blow the glass through a very long tube to shape this at very
high temperatures. Can you believe they still use this method?
In architecture, glass began to be used with
the Romans in 100 BC. They added manganese dioxide and thus were able to remove
the green colour of the glass (in Latin vitreum or vitrum, it means "green
colour" ... it makes more sense in Spanish) in addition to using a new
technique to make them flat.
Glass is perfect as a material, well, almost
perfect. It is hard, resistant, light and transparent, it has little wear over
time but it is very fragile. It is infinitely recyclable and does not require
as much energy to manufacture compared to other construction materials. Glass
in architecture is that magic transparent layer that protects you. You can have
the feeling of being outside for example in a cabin in Norway by the lake with
beautiful views analysing the different colours that the sun takes in the
afternoon or contemplating the dawn borealis simply by drinking your favourite
tea with the fine separation of a glass (make sure it is double or triple layer
and better with argon). We
want beautiful views and of course comfort. This interior-exterior sensation
that many architects achieve is thanks, among many other factors, to the
different properties that glass provides.
Glassmaking during the Eastern (Byzantine)
Roman Empire in Venice was a secret, every artisan who knew the art of
glassmaking was transferred to the island of Murano. They could not escape
easily, for the manufacture of the glass requires very high temperatures so
that being an island, if a fire occurred, the fire would have a short life.
Currently the crafts and jewellery of Murano maintains a great world prestige.
It is exquisite to observe how the glass works with movements as if it were
choreography. Hot glass is like caramel but with temperatures of over 800 ° C,
with this mass at the end of a long tube they blow until they create pieces
full of colour, shine and life.
Later, artisans like Tiffany, Emilie Gallé or
René Lalique were seduced by this material. If you like beauty, I recommend you
see the "Musée Lalique" in France, particularly the enamels. I am
hypnotized by the beauty and delicacy of the wings of the dragonflies, with
such iridescent beautiful colours, the dragonfly seems to fly at any moment.
After the Industrial Revolution, the London
Expo in 1851 and the British Plate Glass Company everything was easier for
window glass.
I have two examples of architecture in mind
that I don't want to miss, the first "L'Institut du Monde Arabe" (1987)
in Paris by Jean Nouvel. It is a very peculiar building with glass facades. Its
southwest façade is made with mechanical diaphragms connected to light sensors
that adjust sunlight. These panels have been carefully designed and inspired by
the repeating geometric shapes (arabesques), typical of Muslim architecture.
The privacy of the enclosure is maintained by those glass panels that remind
latticework “see without being seen” They remind the latticework "see without
being seen" so the privacy of the enclosure is maintained. This
building is for me a magnificent example of what glass can allow us. Today, new
nanotechnology projects aim to help us create windows with greater energy
savings.
The other example I want to mention is Renzo
Piano's “Shard of Glass” 2013 in London. This is a 309 m high skyscraper with a
glass-lined pyramid shape. We can go very high with glass, right? I like to
think that it is a large sail and its mast is all in glass that reflects the
grey or sometimes white clouds of London. Piano is from the city of Genoa which is a port, boats,
sails, movement and lightness and this is present in his buildings.
"Emerge from the Thames" the architect likes to say about this
building.
In Corona Renderer we can achieve highly
realistic glasses. The render engine treats glass as in reality, a dielectric
material and by touching values such as diffuse, reflection or refraction we can manage
the material easily within the programme. Also
this engine gives us some samples by default. We can tint the glass, create
dirt, rain, make it more opaque, logos of glossiness as acid; I can do infinity
of variants for your projects. I have
been doing 3d models and renders for many years, I can assure you of very
realistic glasses, and I can even place a Murano vase inside the living room!
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| L'Institut du Monde Arabe" (1987) in Paris by Jean Nouvel |
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