Why the Glass Industry Loves Architects

Source: Heart Songs By Debra Levy on April 17th, 2017; US Glass Magazine

The glass and glazing community loves to grouse about architects—heck, we’ve even written articles about all their faults and foibles—but here’s a secret about architects we never share.

I am breaking the glass industry code to tell you, but here goes: the glass industry secretly loves architects. Here are the top five reasons why:

1- For what they create with glass. We love architects for their ability to merge art and science into exquisite and functional shapes that we could have never imagined. We work with glass every day, but they re-invent it anew every day and fashion it into orbits we never dreamed. And the more they use, the more business it generates for the glass industry.

2- For how they push us into new applications. They use our products to the fullest and push us into new applications. Glass stairways, glass backsplashes, glass marker boards, moveable glass boards and way too many more applications to count all began because an architect said, “wouldn’t it be nice if glass could do this?”

3- They challenge us. Architects challenge the glass industry every day to create new products and to add properties to glass that it doesn’t yet have. And they don’t let up. The innovative new Apple campus features new types of glass, bent to new radii that only came about because architects kept pushing the glass industry to new manufacturing heights.

4- They do not compromise. Okay, some days, we really hate you for this. But most days we admire your commitment to quality and your willingness to reject product if it is not right.

5- Most importantly, we love architects because they have as much respect for glass as we do. Architects understand what glass is and what it can do. Together, we have given birth to some of the most memorable offspring in the world of construction. Together, we create buildings you can’t forget or ignore.

Sure we have our differences, and there are days we think the relationship can’t be saved. But in the end, we always, joyously, meet in the glass.