STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

Figure 1.5 Chartres Cathedral, south ambulatory from west. (Johnson Architectural Images 2007)
This first glass architecture was not concerned with transparency. The windows were not
designed for view, often located high on the cathedral walls. Rather they were an exploration
of light, the luminous properties of colored glass, and to communicate the stories and
messages of the church to a largely illiterate congregation. (Wigginton 2006, p.14)
Glass production and the secular use of glass increased steadily throughout the Italian
Renaissance. By the 18 th century, window glass had become a commodity item in Northern
Europe. Double-hung windows were also developed in England during this period. The use
of glass in architecture branched to the development of fenestration as an elevation design
technique, and alternately to the development of the conservatory. It was this later branch
which was to have such a huge influence on the future use of glass in architecture, and the
branch to ultimately yield structural glass façade technology.
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