Walls of Glass

Traditional load-bearing masonry architecture is often characterized by large areas of solid masonry and much smaller areas of glass. It was not until construction technology advanced that larger openings became typical in masonry facades. Increasingly since the Industrial Revolution, the ratio of solids to voids in the facades of low-rise structures and buildings for which daylight for working conditions or sunlight for growth or health were critical (e.g., factories, greenhouses, sanatoria, etc.) dipped significantly.

By the end of the 19th century, the use of glass and glazing to enhance limited or nonexistent artificial interior-lighting conditions in both residential and commercial buildings became customary and indeed integral to many early modern buildings, ranging from factories like the Fagus Shoe Factory, built 1911 to 1913, by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer, to the later Van Nelle Factory by the architectural firm of Brinkman & van der Vlugt.

The ability to manufacture larger sections of glass affordably and the discovery of sunlight's importance to health and well-being both contributed to the acceptance of the extensive use of glass and glazing in 20th-century architecture. More extensive glazing can also be found in residences, pavilions, department stores, sanatoria, and other buildings in which daylight was critical to work, comfort, and wellness. The Zonnestraal Sanatorium in Hilversum, Netherlands, and the Barcelona Pavilion are just a few of the many other prewar examples.

The postwar aesthetic continued and even expanded this pervasive use of glass, notably in residential buildings (some extreme examples are the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, and the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois) and in corporate office towers like the Seagram Building and Lever House in New York.

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