Glass Versus Crystal

Ever purchase a “crystal” bowl, vase, or set of glasses and wonder if it’s just fancy looking glass?  It just might be!  To be honest, there is no “official” definition separating the two.  Marketing strategies by glassware companies include calling ordinary glassware “crystal” in order to charge higher prices for their goods.  The only truly…

The Louvre Pyramid

Six hundred seventy-three panes of glass.  At over seventy feet high at its peak, the Louvre Pyramid was an enormous undertaking.  Commissioned in 1984 by former French President François Mitterrand, the glass pyramid not only melds modern architecture with the classical architecture of the Louvre, it descends below ground and acts as an entrance to…

Mexican Chapel of Glass

In Cuernavaca, Mexico, nestled in rich deciduous forest, is a modern chapel made of glass.  Layers of frosted and plain glass alternate vertically to create the illusion of light rising upwards.  The simple, elegant rectangular building is void of pews and furniture.  A crucifix hangs at the far end.  Capped in white stone that matches…

Glass Enclosed Pool Balcony

The projected plans for a building that has been proposed in Mumbai, India have glass enclosed pools literally hanging off the side of the thirty-seven story building!  Could you imagine floating face down in a pool, staring down hundreds of feet off the side of a skyscraper?  The fear-defying plans call for glass pool barriers to surround…