In particular, new developments in glass technology have enabled it to be used as a complete structural material, through the use of special films, glues and coatings. Subsequently, the notion of spatial design has become more significant, and, when successfully articulated, defines an innovative art in its own right.

This approach has involved the treatment of space as matter, and a move away from the creation of solid forms, shells, envelopes, and the engineered language of structure. It has permitted the potential for buildings to have depth, discovery, mystery, and shadow, to be truly multisensory, to be a multifaceted experience of the metaphysical.

Leafy Glass

City Hall in Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands, was designed by Erick van Egeraat Associated Architects and completed in 2002. The city of 70,000 has major ambitions for the redevelopment of its entire center, and the free-form curvilinear city hall forms the centerpiece of the master plan.

The city council sought to represent their approach to administration and the process of communicating with local people through a building that is transparent, open, and inviting. The building's appearance relates directly to this ambition and is expressed primarily through the transparent glass facade.   >>>

This article is excerpted from New Glass Architecture by Brent Richards, with permission of the publisher, Yale University Press, Inc. Images are reproduced with permission from Laurence King.