Glass is one of the most popular and complex building materials used today. It offers virtually unlimited aesthetic options, combined with outstanding performance. It is a transparent hard substance created by the application of enormous amounts of heat to sand or quartz. It is a brittle material and weather resistant.
Today, the architectural and building industries face some of their greatest challenges. Buildings must not only be functional and aesthetically pleasing, but they must address the safety and security issues that are a troubling reality of modern living.
Uses
The glass is an unlimited and innovative material that has various uses. It is an essential component of numerous products that we use in our day to day to life, most often without noticing it.
Here we give certain uses of glass which are as under:
- Windows and doors
- Facades
- Reinforcement structures
- Tableware (plate, cups, bowls)
- Insulation
- Conservatory
- Jar packaging for food
- Bottles for drinks
- Flacon for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
- Renewable energy (solar energy glass, Wind turbines)
- Interior design and furniture element like mirrors, balustrades, tables, partitions, etc.
- Applications and electronics element like cook top, oven doors, TV, computer screens, smart phones, etc.
- Automotive and transport like aircraft, ships, windscreens, backlights, etc.
- Medical technology, optical glass, biotechnology, etc.
- Fibre optic cables to carry information from phones, TV, computer.
- X ray& Gamma-ray – radiation protection
- Nowadays glass is used as a partition in building facades which divides space physically as well visually connects the inside with outside. i.e., if you have a glass sliding door towards your garden in home, you can passively participate in the activities of garden from inside the home. During particular festival, occasions or party, you can open up this façade and extend your inside space with outside. Thus, your indoor will become outdoor and vice versa.
Benefits
Here we try to provide certain benefits of using a glass which are as under:
- The glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in its quality or purity.
- It is available in different colours or colourless.
- Glass allows the natural light inside the room which subtly changes the room climate i.e. daylight, room temperature, ambiance, visibility etc.
- Glass offers virtually unlimited aesthetic options.
- Colour is the powerful, primary consideration in the design and use of stained glass.
- Glass constructions have become the symbol of development in many countries, where people tend to see these buildings as symbols of wealth and luxury.
- For ornamental work, glass is available in wide ranges of texture, colours, finishes and shapes.
- Traditionally and logically windows are the great ‘canvas’ of glass art.
- With the use of glass, architects maintain a deliberate balance between coloured light and airy space.
- For restoration and renovation, glass craftsman plays an important role.
- Glass art refers to large, modern works of art, typically one-off creations, which are substantially or wholly made of glass.
- From its beginnings as a window panel in luxury houses to sophisticated structural members in new age buildings, its role in architecture has evolved over the years.
