OVERVIEW
Transparency: Preservation, Innovation and Leadership
April 20/21, 2009
Mission: Glass, as a material and metaphor, offers a case study for material science, preservation, sustainability and leadership.
Moderator: Cliff Pearson, Architectural Record
Scientists, engineers, architects, artists and business and cultural leaders reflected on “transparency” as material and as metaphor. How has glass evolved as a material since the modernists first used it widely in the early 20th century? How is “transparency” a metaphor for leadership across society? How is it used for illusion and for power?
The Glass House provided a singular reference throughout this conversation, beginning with the clarification of glass as a material: Glass is not a solid, as it seems, but a super-cooled liquid that moves over time. An overcast day meant that participants saw themselves reflected in the glass of the Glass House while they could also look through the glass, into the landscape. There was a feeling of being connected to nature and its dynamic systems. However, the nature or, as it was described by Philip Johnson, “the wallpaper” isn’t nature at all, but a designed landscape.
Historically, glass has been used in architecture for spectacle as well as to bring daylight inside. Early modernists were interested in crystal forms and, ultimately, this brought them to glass. As it became widely accessible, glass became a defining material for modernism.
As in the past, the future of architecture will be driven by the invention of new materials. Participants wondered if there is a new material that will bring the excitement of glass in the Glass House? Since Johnson built the Glass House in 1946-49, glass has changed dramatically as a material. There are exciting new innovations in glass relevant to economy, energy, and efficiency. Enthusiasm for the new came full circle when one participant referenced adobe, a traditional material, vital, as ever, for its economy and efficiency.
Glass buildings are difficult because of the frames, not the glass. The frame and structure are essential performance components of any glass building. Used as a metaphor, transparency is “framed” through context or point of view. Glass can serve as a connector or a divider. Transparency can do the same for leadership and for power. “It’s impossible to be a little transparent.” Another participant observed, “Playing poker with transparent cards isn’t much of a game. In cards, transparency happens only when you show your hand.”