Using glass,this paper explores its materiality in relation to discourses in art,architectural theory,technology,and science,to illustrate the shifting practices in European modern architecture throughout the 20th century.Departing from Colin Rowe's and Robert Slutzky's metaphorical association of glass with transparency,and from Charles Jencks's postmodern answer,linking glass to opacity,this paper argues that glass cannot be re-duced to its perception.The author traces the origins and development of the term'transparency'in 19th century European architecture,to then present the diverse non-transparent representations of glass in early 20th century modern architecture as both a contribution to,and a challenge for the modernist movement.The investigations into glass of architects,such as Arthur Korn,Konrad Werner Schulze and Raymond McGrath,focusing on the'performance'of the material,illustrate a growing awareness for the scientific properties of the material and its potential for architecture in the 1930s.The architectural theories and scientific research from László Moholy-Nagy and others focused on the materiality and scientificity of transparent materials,following with a gradual shifting of modern architectural interpretations from components to their performances and'physical functions',which led to the transformation of glass from a medium of light to a medium of the gaze,and then into a medium of precise environmental design.The paper finally concludes by introducing a speculative vision of the future based on sci-ence and technology as described by physicist John Desmond Bernal to discuss the relationship between humans,architecture and the environment.
GlassTransparencyPostwar-modernismEuropean ModernismThings of Modernity
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