If bread is an essential for people to survive, glass is a staple for modern architecture to flourish well. Be it energy efficient, laminated or toughened, clear or tinted, architectural glass is never out of the list when designing and constructing both a residential and commercial building. But do you know that before it became so widespread, only the rich people could afford it? In fact, the earliest form of this glass were made for the most significant structures in Rome and is very costly for building houses.
Despite the improved glass production in the ensuing years, glass windows remained to be affordable only for the wealthy. This was clearly demonstrated in the particular case in England where, literally, the more windows a home had the wealthier the owner was. This is why people were used to be taxed based on the actual number of glass windows they had in their homes. Eventually, when the said tax policy was lifted, the cost of architectural glass significantly fell by almost 50%. And with the introduction of the automated float glass manufacturing technology, such glass became widely available at a moderate cost with the same consistent high quality.
The same manufacturing method was applied in creating flat glass planes in which molten glass is poured into a thin bath for it to spread smoothly and flat. Moreover, the process of manufacturing architectural glass was further improved by the developments made in steelmaking. Steel frames became the commonly used material to support buildings. What this means is that the walls are being relieved of their load-bearing burden and can now be made entirely of glass, also known as curtain walls. With this innovation, architects are pushing this glass to its limits. It may be delicate but so strong and is a very flexible material that offers great potential and possibilities.
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