JHL "J
RAYMOND
McGRATH
IS THE COMPLEMENT OF STRUCTURE.
If the business of structure is to support, enclose
and secure, the business of glass is to allow it to
do this without sacrificing natural light and visual
access to the world outside. To speak of structural
glass is therefore misleading. Glass is one of the
most versatile building materials and is strong, hard
and durable, but its nature is not such that it will
yield gracefully to the strains which structural work
is subject to. The extensive use of glass in
present-day building has led to general reference to
"structural glass," especially where the employment
of glass bricks and lenses suggests that they fulfil the
purposeof ordinary bricks. What has really happened
is that the refinement of structural work has per
mitted a corresponding increase in the surface
available for glazing in one form or another.
W. R. Lethaby, speaking of Gothic Architecture,
said: "The conception of a building as made up of
B. ARCH., A.R.I.B.A.
(I) Detail of construction of a private house in Paris,
designed by Pierre Chareau. Warm air circulates in the
cavity glass walls, which form an insulating envelope.
