BRENT RICHARDS

For centuries, glass has provoked fascination with its properties as a versatile material that permits light to enter buildings in spectacular ways. Much of modern architecture has been conceived by using glass to create increasingly minimal structures, to promote the notion of lightweight construction solutions, and to allow maximum daylight into buildings. "New Glass Architecture" showcases the changing ways that aesthetics and methods for using glass have been developing since the 1990s. The book begins with an introduction that traces the history of key moments in glass architecture--from the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral to the Crystal Palace of 1851, and early constructions by John Soane, Bruno Taut, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. Author Brent Richards explains the importance of glass artists in the second half of the 20th century and describes developments in glass technology over the last twenty years. Beautifully illustrated with newly commissioned photographs by Dennis Gilbert, the book features twenty-five case studies of recent glass constructions from around the world by such leading architects as Foster and Partners, Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, Steven Holl, Toyo Ito & Associates, Jean Nouvel, Raphael Vinoly, and Peter Zumthor. Each building is illustrated in full color and accompanied by detailed drawings. "New Glass Architecture" features these buildings and more: - Chapel of Ignatius, Seattle - Conde Nast Cafe, New York - DZ Bank, Berlin - Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia - Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria - Laban Dance Centre, London - Torre Agbar, Barcelona

Históricamente, las propiedades del cristal siempre han provocado una fascinación casi mística por ser un material versátil y espectacular que permite que la luz penetre en los edificios. Este libro demuestra que desde la decada de los noventa ha venido desarrollandose una nueva estetica en la arquitectura de cristal que investiga el potencial para construir luz, mas que la busqueda moderna de la ligereza en la construccion. El libro comienza con una introduccion donde se presentan los momentos clave del uso del cristal en la arquitectura, explica la importancia de los artistas del vidrio de la segunda mitad del siglo XX y describe los desarrollos en la tecnologia del cristal en la arquitectura de los ultimos veinte años. A continuacion se presentan 25 ejemplos recientes de arquitectura de cristal, con fotografias en color del especialista Dennis Gilbert: la torre Agbar de Jean Nouvel en Barcelona, el DZ Bank de Frank Gehry en Berlin, El Kursaal de Rafael Moreno en San Sebastian, etc.