VISION 49 — TALL ORDER
Architects don’t always appear to know what glass has
been specified or installed. They know the names of their
tap-ware and lighting but can’t tell you about their glass.
We went through a period of time where we used silicon,
butt-jointed glazing. Now we come to a corner with
double-glazing where you’ve got two sheets of glass
and a vacuum and you have to have an end seal. How
you bring together two sheets of glass that both have
sealing so that it looks like a seamless rounding took
some time, so you have to understand your glass very
thoroughly. The other thing is glass has got a geometry
to it. If you go tall, you have to go narrow. There are
panes, there are sizes. So you imagine if you’re going to
design a building, if you don’t know what the structural
module of the glass that will firmly work, then you can
go through a process where they can’t build your design.
Where do your designs begin?
We start with: “What are the limitations of the glass
panels we have to deal with?” That becomes a module
you’ve got to work into the building. That then
translates to control other expressed joints in the job.
The whole thing has a harmony, but it starts from really
understanding your products and materials to begin with.
“The great quality of glass is the fact that
you hardly see it. It’s the one thing you
want to be invisible. Good specification
and good handling means glass can be
enhancing and also invisible.”
GARY CATT, ARCHITECT