As Clear As Glass

Strong yet brittle – glass inspires artists and master builders

Glass-inspired artforms from around the world.

The colour of the honeycomb façade of Harpa Concert Hall and Congress Centre in ReykjavÍk depends on the sunlight and the perspective of the observer. The south side of the building consists of more than 1000 elements of coloureffect glass. This allows only certain wavelengths of light to pass through and reflects all others. Thus this concert hall in Iceland glitters spectacularly in the sunlight.

A sea of flowers decorates the ceiling in the entrance area of the Bellagio, the famed casino in Las Vegas. The colourful splendour consists of

2000 mouth-blown glass flowers, which were arranged by the artist Dale Chihuly in 1998. The flowers are made of Murano glass, which is famous for its elaborate production and brilliant colours. Amazingly, this delicate and light-looking work of art weighs almost 20 tonnes.

Mighty but filigree are these particular blue firs, spruces, beeches, pines and aspens (top right). Found in the Bavarian Forest, Germany, close to the Czech border, their leaves do not rustle nor do their branches bend even in the strongest winds. The 30 or so trees are actually made of eight-millimetre thick sheets of green, blue and brown flat glass and rise up to eight metres in height.

The façade of the Swiss-Tech Convention Centre in Lausanne is clad with dye-sensitised solar cells, known as ‘Energy Glass’, to let light through and generate energy (far right). This produces and stores electricity through an artificial photosynthesis process. The glass front therefore lets light into the building as well as handling its power needs.