I've always loved them but never knew what to call them.
Built a house out in the desert a few years ago. The "Hot "side of the house (Facing west & with sun beating down the longest) has no windows other than a breezeway between the two Octagonal Domes of the house. The late afternoon to sunset light is wonderful as it comes through a row of Glass Blocks set towards the top of the wall. it throws a maze of sculptured light on the east side of the breezeway. We Love them & couldn't care less whether they are "Decadent / Out of Fashion /The Bleeding edge of Uncool / or any thing else.
I have yet to have one person say they didn't like them.
I have yet to have one person say they didn't like them.
6
"sculptured light"---- the perfect description with the correct
form of the verb.
form of the verb.
2
They can also be used for partition walls. I have two I use as art objects. I love them! You can still get them at Lowe's and Home Depot.
3
Stuyvesant High School does something interesting with glass bricks in the school. Many hold different preserved insects, rocks, soil from around the world, elements. Also interesting are the 88 cubes that act as time capsules for each year of the school's history in its old building by 15th street, and the 88 capsules reserved for students in the graduating classes at the new Chambers St building.
This website (http://stuy.enschool.org/stuycube/index.html) offers some more detail, but unfortunately it isn't up to date. (Stuyvesant Class of 11's cube isn't on the website, but we definitely filled it!)
This website (http://stuy.enschool.org/stuycube/index.html) offers some more detail, but unfortunately it isn't up to date. (Stuyvesant Class of 11's cube isn't on the website, but we definitely filled it!)
3
I think they're actually called glass block. Some really nice ones are solid, not hollow like most are. I think they come in colors now too.
6
Correct. Glass brick: solid. Glass Block: hollow.
1
That's what the ebay time machine is for. Glass bricks, like so many other pieces of one's childhood, are there.
2
Decadence of the 1980s? I've always called the 1980s the dark-ages. Maybe it was decadent if you were a baby boomer. Design was at a very low point with post-modern junk being cobbled together everywhere by inexperienced architects who became later became stars.
It's important to keep fashion out of architecture. A building material looks fresh and new the first few times you see a new installation but quickly gets old after you begin to see it everywhere. After everyone rips that material out to make way for the next new material any remaining places with that material look dated. The best cities exist like a record of architecture from several centuries.
I found it interesting that the author tried to obtain some used glass block. In 1984 I walked into a railway station during demolition and asked if I could remove some materials. The demolition guys even handed me tools. I walked away with a box of early twentieth-century subway tile which I still have.
It's important to keep fashion out of architecture. A building material looks fresh and new the first few times you see a new installation but quickly gets old after you begin to see it everywhere. After everyone rips that material out to make way for the next new material any remaining places with that material look dated. The best cities exist like a record of architecture from several centuries.
I found it interesting that the author tried to obtain some used glass block. In 1984 I walked into a railway station during demolition and asked if I could remove some materials. The demolition guys even handed me tools. I walked away with a box of early twentieth-century subway tile which I still have.
2
I am 83 years old and have admired glass bricks all my life — since the first time around. I've got a couple of small ones as well as a slightly bigger one (8"8"4") that has an elliptical opening at the top. It's a vase. I love all of them. Amazing how I've never gotten tired of these things.
15
I've got a similar one, and use it as a picture frame. It's easy to change the photos...just pull out one and put in another through the opening on top. I can't remember where I got it, but I treasure it.
We had two "windows" made of glass bricks in our 2006 condo in DC. They were each 6' X 6' and were our favorite feature, endlessly changing with the light and weather. Most beautiful privacy wall imaginable!
8
We replaced the transom & window panels above & next to our entry door with glass bricks in the 90's. I love them. The sun shines through during the day, making our living room/dining room level seem quite open & airy. Our stained glass fixture in the foyer shines it's colorful beacon out through the blocks, making a prismatic welcome sign.
9
If glass brick intrigues you, check out MVRDV's glass brick facade for the Chanel store in Amsterdam. It is stunning.
5
Also: for a glass block extravaganza: see Renzo Piano's Maison Hermés in Tokyo.
1
What a wonderful, and overlooked, topic. I came of age in the early 80's, and you're right, they were an integral part of the decadence that characterized the era. My friend's condo in an old 1900's factory in Chicago, where the new living spaces were carved out in glass block within the factory cavern of the building shell. Shower stalls, open and seductive, with naked figures, alternately shadowy and illuminated, cavorting behind. They were modern, yet antique; old-fashioned yet seductive. I even considered creating a 90 degree curved ceiling/wall made of them, that I would then run water over the exterior, to catch the effect inside, of the light filtering through the water running over the interior's ceiling/wall. They are compelling and off-putting at the same time. Fascinating! Thanks for the reminder.
10
I absolutely love the quirkiness of Molly's quixotic quest for glass bricks. They are an art form, at its most simple. Too often we miss inate construction beauty. How lovely that she saw -- and photographed -- them in their natural habitat. Thanks for sharing, and I'll start looking ...
5
brick I have when you visit my glass block collection
in Del Rey.