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Wright’s Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

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Wright's Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

Wright’s Mile High Illinois Glass Tower

Architects’ designs are at times both pragmatic and fanciful. Frank Lloyd Wright was no exception. In 1956, Chicago and other cities were struggling with their growing populations, and a finite amount of space in which to house them and their businesses. Wright’s solution, which many believed was ahead of its time, was to build up using glass.

Wright introduced his Mile High Illinois Tower just two years before he died, but he was serious about building it. Following his death, the project lost its biggest champion, and to date it hasn’t been built. The world’s tallest building is nowhere near Wright’s proposed maximum height, but just as Wright envisioned it, today’s tallest buildings rely heavily on glass. Read more

Self tinting glass helps buildings keep their cool

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Self tinting glass helps buildings keep their cool

Self tinting glass helps buildings keep their cool

Energy consumption is one of the hottest topics in new building construction – no pun intended. The drive to reduce energy grows more urgent as developing nations increase construction projects designed to support their economic activities. Nations closest to the Equator are those most in need of simple, reliable solutions that reduce the need for electricity. That’s where self-tinting glass comes in.

Self tinting glass is glass that tints based on the movement of the Sun. The glass remains tinted as long as it is exposed to sunlight. As the Sun moves off the glass, the glass returns to its clear, untinted condition. The glass also remains clear on cloudy days to maximize the transmission of visible light. Read more

New wine glass designed to fit your face

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New wine glass designed to fit your face

New wine glass designed to fit your face

The aroma of wine is a big part of wine-tasting. Wine connoisseurs always smell the wine as part of their evaluation. Now, thanks to the new Wine Mask Glass that’s designed to fit your face, the aroma and the taste of the wine will be truly combined into a single tasting experience.

The rim of the glass is designed to fit over your nose while you’re drinking. Small vents on the side of the glass admit air, which is key to allowing the wine to breathe and activate its aroma. The area above the fluid level in the glass acts as a mixing chamber for the air and the wine. The vented enclosure allows the wine vapors to leave the fluid surface faster, which improves the wine-tasting experience. Read more

Glass doorknob sets London house on fire

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Glass doorknob sets London house on fire

Glass doorknob sets London house on fire

Decorative doorknobs can come in many shapes and sizes, but a glass doorknob was identified as the cause of a house fire in London last fall. Fortunately the homeowner was at home at the time of the incident, and was alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm. The London fire department extinguished the blaze before significant damage was done to the home.

The trouble started when one of the home’s resident’s removed a coat that had been hanging on the doorknob. The doorknob focused sunlight streaming into a bedroom window, and the intensified light ignited clothing hanging in the closet. For its part, the fire department issued warnings about the hidden dangers of combining glass or mirrors and direct sunlight. Read more

Iconic Glass Structures – The Bloch Building

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We would be remiss if we didn’t include the Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in our growing list of iconic glass structures. The Bloch Building, a 2007 addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, features a frosted glass exterior that when lit from inside, takes on the appearance of a Japanese lantern.

The building is a 165,000 square foot addition to the museum complex, and sits in stark contrast to the museum’s original Beaux-Arts style building, which opened in 1933. The Bloch Building, named after H & R Block co-founder Henry W. Bloch, is home to a number of the museum’s collections, including contemporary art and African, photography. It also includes a number of galleries for special exhibits, a reference library and a permanent sculpture collection. Read more

Washington Monument Gets Glass Addition

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The National Park Service, which oversees the operations of the Washington Monument, has approved a glass design for a visitor screening center at the base of the structure. The monument is currently closed for repairs and renovations until 2019. When the site reopens, visitors will enter the monument through a 27′ x 30′ entrance, which replaces a temporary structure added following the 9/11 attacks.

The new structure will hold about 2 dozen visitors at a time and will use bulletproof glass. According to the Park Service, the building will use tinted or fritted glass to reduce solar heat gain in the structure. Read more

Liquid glass compound may save your phone

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Liquid glass compound may save your phone

A new compound may eliminate the pain of a cracked phone glass screen. Let’s face it: nothing diminishes your phone’s fun quotient like a cracked glass screen. According to a British mobile phone study, your iPhone has about a 10-week life expectancy. iPhone 4 and iPhone5 models have an average life expectancy of about five weeks, so the prospect of being able to protect a phone is pretty exciting

Sadly, the compound doesn’t quite exist. Yet. It’s actually the subject of a new crowdfunding campaign. According to the developers, a titanium dioxide liquid reinforcement fills in the nanoscopic surface imperfections of a glass surface to give it a little extra strength. Read more

Bell Works Builds Largest PV Glass Skylight

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Bell Works Builds Largest PV Skylight

Bell Works, the successor of the former Bell Labs, will be the recipient of the largest photovoltaic glass skylight in the United States. Somerset Development is in the process of renovating the former Bell Labs site, a 2-million square-foot space. When it is complete, the space will host offices, retail, healthcare, dining, recreation, a public library and hotel space.

The complex is located in Holmdel, NJ. The PV system will consist of more than 3,200 skylights and will cover 60,000 square feet of the building’s iconic atrium. The challenge is to renovate the space without interfering with the building’s historical design. The original Bell Labs building was designed by architect Eero Saarinen. Read more

Glass bottle-to-bottle recycling facility set to open

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Glass bottle-to-bottle recycling facility set to open

Colorado has taken another step forward in its effort to achieve zero-waste status. Later this month, Momentum Recycling, a Utah company, will open a new bottle-to-bottle recycling plant. The plant will take in container glass and offer a high-quality source for new containers for local bottle manufacturers.

The facility hopes to divert some of the state’s more than 300,000 tons of container glass that currently gets routed to the landfill. Colorado does not have a deposit law on bottles, which means that the state’s average glass recycling rates are on the low end of the spectrum. States with container deposits recycle as much as 60 percent of the container glass in their waste streams. By comparison, Colorado recycles less than 25% of its container glass today. Read more

Eiffel Tower Gets New Glass Wall

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Eiffel Tower Gets New Glass Wall

By the end of 2017, the Eiffel Tower in Paris will be surrounded by a 2.5 meter bulletproof glass wall, but many Parisians believe the wall is a mistake. The idea behind the structure is to protect the tower from terrorist attacks. The idea works, but people are finding the design a little hard to swallow.

The city is paying for the $20 million project, but residents view it as a psychological and philosophical affront. The mayor and city council approved the wall in an attempt to address safety concerns for the 6 million tourists that visit the tower each year. Read more