The Research Of Glass Architecture

This paper comprises five chapters. Transparency is discussed at the first chapter as the greatest character of glass. Then it discourses upon the evolution of glass architecture and the contemporary technology of glass architecture, which is the precondition of the variety that glass architecture presents. The third chapter is the main content of this paper. It sketches a spectrum of glass architecture presence possibilities: at one end the glass membrane is practically invisible ,that is"not there"; at the other end the membrane powerfully asserts its material presence; and between these outer poles many intermediate ones show"half there". Based on examples, it analyses design concept, tectonic program and material choice of glass architecture in detail. Concerning the environment in general, the forth chapter states how glass architecture can talk with the context and the natural environment.