Week 4, Glass, Reading "Space, Light and Transformation" Brent Richards

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     This weeks reading on glass really focused on the historical development of the material and how people used glass to impact their spaces through various historical periods.  It also included some of the modern day developments of glass as it relates to current architectural trends.  The author paid particularly close attention to how glass has influenced and the space and light in architecture throughout history.  He also added information about how the technological development of glass shaped innovation in architecture, from stained glass widows to sheet glass and even to the use of structural glass.  The most historically interesting aspect of the reading was the author's focus on the patron's of the glass industry.  It seemed those who had deep pockets throughout history perpetuated the development and uses of the material, and thus the history of the material is really reflective of the tastes and styles of the wealthiest classes from one generation to the next.  The author gave countless examples of architecturally significant uses and innovations of glass throughout history, but the common thread was the application of glass to only the most wealthy of buildings, including royal palaces and catholic cathedrals.  In many ways it seems that glass is an elitist material, or at least a result of an elitist patronage.  It is still a very expensive material, making it somewhat cost prohibitive and a coveted item in current architecture.  One of the things I thought was most interesting about the author's adherence to mentioning the huge innovations in glass architecture from one decade to the next, was the exclusion of the mass production of glass and it concurrent implementation in American homes.  Surely the mass demand for glass in some way drove and shaped its production and architectural implementation, but the author seems only concerned in this reading with the one of a kind innovations in glass architecture.  But, in examining the history of the material surely the mass production, demand, and use for the product strongly dictated its architectural use in residential single family homes, a fact the author missed or at least didn't discuss. 
                                The author took great effort to describe how the use of glass influenced the interiors of a space, creating volume and manipulating light.   He also included some interesting discussion about how glass has the unique ability to bring the inside (of a space) out and the outside (of a space) in, a concept I really had not thought of until that point.  The ability of glass to allow light into a space, while simultaneously keeping the other elements out makes glass a one of a kind material, different from all of the other materials we are going to discuss this semester.  However, for all of the author's discussion regarding the uniqueness of glass as a material as it relates to its ability to manipulate light, the author did not mention how historically vital glass was because of the lack of electricity (a rather modern innovation relative to the authors time line).  Until the invention of electricity and thus artificial light, glass was the only medium to illuminate a space without direct exposure to the exterior elements, a vital piece of information in the discussion of the importance of glass in architectural design.  It also seems to follow that one of the reasons the wealthy class heavily funded the development of glass did in fact stem from some practical roots; they wanted to be able to see inside of their homes.  Which, not to make a play on words here, sheds new light on the historical significance of glass.