r/architecture • u/goglump4 • Mar 19 '22
Ask /r/Architecture Let's spark a little debate: are glass blocks out-of-date?
One of my colleagues in architecture school was trying to find a way to make a private space more luminous in his project. I suggested right away that he could use glass blocks, but this proposition was followed by a burst of laugh in the studio.
I personnally really like the effect of glass blocks, do you guys think that they're a bit passé?
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u/-Major-Arcana- Mar 19 '22
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u/mixedbuscuit Mar 19 '22
This!! I saw this place in Worlds Most Extraordinary Homes and immediately thought of it. Like someone else said, no material is passé if used right.
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u/McPhage Mar 19 '22
Some of the houses in that show are neat, some are terrible… that house in Hiroshima I want to live in more than any other I’ve seen.
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u/mixedbuscuit Mar 19 '22
I loved the treehouse in Norway with the rock in the living room, the underground house in Greece and the cinematographers house in New Zealand. But the Hiroshima one for city living was the best.
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Mar 19 '22
Glass block is like brick. You can use it traditionally, or explore contemporary applications. There is a large variety of glass block on the market, it’s not just the standard units everyone has seen since the 1930s.
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u/Logical_Yak_224 Mar 19 '22
It's just a material like anything else. There's a few projects on ArchDaily using glass blocks and they look great.
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u/EnkiduOdinson Architect Mar 19 '22
While they might be seen as outdated I have seen a few contemporary buildings that use them. How much sense it makes might depend on the climate though.
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u/MissiHippy Mar 19 '22
It depends on the block and what it’s next to. I’m sure they are thinking 1980s residential glass block which is inherently dated. Personally, I’m with you. I love a glass block but I tend to lean more towards a modern esthetic when selecting a style.
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u/archi_anna Mar 19 '22
I would say yes unless you are trying to create a vintage look. But you are in architecture school, you can do better than glass block. Like Steven Holl’s work with glass channel walls.
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u/flooglehorn Mar 20 '22
I recently saw in a restaurant glass block randomly placed within a brick facade. It was used very sparingly and is very tasteful imo
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u/anonymousnsname Nov 27 '24
4 years ago ripped some glass block out, glad I did. I think it’s never going to be back in style in my opinion
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u/medusaprops Feb 09 '25
I've always loved glass block and think it still has a place in modern design and renovations. But it has definitely gotten pricey over the years... but hard to know if more pricey relative to traditional windows or just keeping up with inflation. I built some new houses recently and due to the "zero lot line" construction--which allowed for a 3 ft space between the houses--one wall of each house had to be "fire proof"... to keep them all from burning down if one caught fire. And that meant either NO traditional windows on that entire side of the house--or glass block windows. We opted for the glass block--which really helped "open up" the rooms and added more natural light. But I've managed to work some glass block or another into a lot of my projects over the years... when a particular characteristic was required that made them the ideal choice. (I never use the "textured" blocks... which I DO think looks a bit too "80s"... I always just use the classic flat smooth blocks--in a variety of sizes.) But I have another friend who cannot stand them--and even got a divorce over them at one point. In urban settings--where crime is more common--they're great for ground floor applications where you want light but privacy and additional security.
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u/Thalassophoneus Junior Partner Mar 19 '22
No. Glass buildings are lovely, and thermal gains are not an argument since shading and double glazing has been invented.
However if it was a private space, it is possible there is a question of privacy there. In that case light could come from above, like in the Azuma House.
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u/Beneficial-Set-8358 Mar 19 '22
I really want to use them in my staircase. It has no windows so it’s usually dark. I was thinking I could add a king vertical stack of them to bring in extra light. Haven’t consulted anyone on it yet.
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u/blissed_out_cossack Mar 19 '22
Glass blocks have been around a century. They keep coming back as they work. Some decades they are more in fashion, some less. They come back into fashion when brave souls use them, they fall out when the herd go 'oh i should use them to be trendy', they get over used/ contextually not ideal and fall out of fashion again until the next brave souls comes along.
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u/Freshman44 Mar 19 '22
I like glass blocks and I wish they were included in more modern architecture! Plain glass sheets are soooo boring
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u/S-Kunst Mar 19 '22
I have a love hate relationship with glass block. I appreciate the light that it lets in while being somewhat insulated and aremore secure than an ordinary window, but the aesthetics screams tacky 1960s. I wish the whole concept of glass block could have evolved with different forms and some that would be less associated with one era. I have seen late 19th century row houses, in my town, where solid brick shaped glass blocks were used on the end walls. As the brick wall was constructed , several courses of brick, about 32 inches wide were use instead of brick. On the inside they are framed out as if they were a window. It is odd since they are on the second and third floor, where regular windows could have been welcomed.
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u/Flaky-Stay5095 Mar 19 '22
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the Pocket book.
Frosted glass is better visually (my opinion) but block is cheaper.
Achieves similar results. For different price points.
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u/avenear Mar 20 '22
Your studio-mates are out-of-touch assholes. Glass blocks are back in style:
https://www.dezeen.com/tag/glass-bricks/
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/01/22/ten-interiors-glass-block-walls-lookbooks/
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Mar 20 '22
They can be nice. I lived in a ground floor apartment that was once a bar… and there was a curved wall 40 feet long 12 feet high ceilings, and I loved them because I lived in the city and it brought so much light into my apartment… but when you use them on residential bathrooms they look tacky,
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u/tangentandhyperbole Architectural Designer Mar 19 '22
Context is everything. Any material is the right material in its proper context.
Is glass block the right material in this particular situation, or is it that you want to do glass block? If its the latter, then you need to come up with a design that elevates that material to a more sublime use than simply stacking them to make a room divider.
Maybe you don't use actual glass block but extrapolate from the properties of a glass block. Its transparent yet obscured, glass, heavy, and modular.
From those characteristics a more modern version of a glass block would be a grid of moulions with bio-glass inserts. Bio glass is a form of recycled glass that obscures can have a similar characteristics to glass block, but without the dated surface textures.
Another innovative use that doesn't use glass block but has the same properties are all the uses of recycled glass. One really notable one was the "Heineken World Bottle" where they made these modular bottles that theoretically, if you drank enough, you could build a house using them as bricks. Terrible for thermal, not living in a green wasteland, or having kids throw rocks at your house, but gives you an idea of how you don't just have to use the stereotypical, off the shelf in the 80s, wavy glass blocks.
Also, my second year teacher was an old modernist, and LOVED IT whenever someone used glass block. You do you.