Seeing Clear

Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while now knows I’m a big fan of architectural glass—especially when it’s used in innovative, exciting applications. I’ve written about examining the glass in storefronts and hotel rooms, sometimes even crouching in the streets to see what type of glass is being used. I’ve even been in restaurant bathrooms where glass was used extensively, from the stall doors to the counter tops.

The most exciting, glass-clad bathroom I’ve yet to view was at Chicago’s Sushi Samba restaurant; I took the picture you see here of the entrance. It was dark in restaurant and a camera phone doesn’t take the best quality pictures, so it’s hard to see all of the glass and to truly get the full effect, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what it was like—I’d never seen anything like it. In addition to the floating glass mirrors, there were also frosted glass stall doors and even a glass shelf (you know, for a lady’s purse).

But there was more glass than just the restroom—railings, banisters, the bar top, walls. It was a lot of fun to see. You can go to the website, www.sushisamba.com and see a photo gallery of the Chicago restaurant, but it’s just not the same as seeing it for yourself.

Aside from the fact that Chicago is just a great city, it’s also a great place for glass and architecture--stroll down Michigan Avenue and you’ll see that. Lots of big cities are moving toward increasingly transparent architecture. You may have seen this story on USGNN.com yesterday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/26/ST2007122601985.html that talked about how Washington, D.C. architects are taking their designs away from the boxy, brick and limestone buildings and using more glass.

Transparency is certainly an architectural trend these days and one that looks to have staying power for some time to come. Do you agree? Is transparency here to stay? Let us know what you think.