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The nostalgic allure of glass blocks

Designers and architects have rediscovered them and made them fashionable again

The nostalgic allure of glass blocks Designers and architects have rediscovered them and made them fashionable again

Glass bricks are making a comeback thanks to a new generation of designers rediscovering them. The popularity of accounts like @sexyglassblock, curated by American architect Abby Happel, is a testament to how glass blocks are once again considered cool. Speaking to the Financial Times, Happel said that many people still associate them "with their grandmother's house," adding: "Well, maybe your grandmother had better taste than you." This connection to the 20th century and past architecture is precisely why glass bricks are making a return, becoming increasingly popular in interior design projects. Patented in 1886 by Swiss architect Gustave Falconnier, glass blocks were initially used to filter natural light into factories. In the 1920s, they became a hallmark of residential architecture, to the extent that entire facades were sometimes constructed with them. The most famous example is the Maison de Verre, a Parisian building designed around 1932 by French architect Pierre Chareau, which has since become an icon of modernist style. Its name references the translucent glass blocks in the building's outer wall, allowing natural light to filter inside without compromising privacy.

In the past, the use of glass blocks was not only an aesthetic choice but also a functional one: these bricks help diffuse soft, even light. Glass blocks returned to fashion in the 1980s, becoming a symbol of the decade's typical hedonism. Today, they are back in vogue, appreciated for combining functionality and aesthetics. Additionally, their cost is relatively low, making them a highly sought-after solution in a context where construction costs are rising. Recent advances in building technology have made them even more thermally efficient. As noted by architect Thomas Karsten of the Berlin-based studio Karhard, glass blocks «are an old material with a futuristic footprint. They work just as well today as they did 100 years ago.»

Do We Live in a World That’s Too Minimal?

@_danafee

those renovation videos make me so sad

original sound - caro

The resurgence of glass blocks is part of a broader phenomenon involving the widespread adoption of minimalist design in cities and the construction of new buildings and interiors. But how did we arrive at architectural solutions with fewer and fewer embellishments? Firstly, the mass production of simple, functional elements, such as glass bricks, is more efficient and accessible. Additionally, minimalist design is often associated with a sort of "timeless modernity," capable of maintaining its appeal virtually unchanged over time. However, some critics—looking to the past—argue that minimalist design has led to a kind of aesthetic impoverishment across society.

This perspective suggests that the obsessive pursuit of simplification has led to uniformity, which, by eliminating more and more ornamentation, has ultimately stripped objects, buildings, and urban spaces of character. Experts call this trend "unconscious minimalism," emphasizing that the problem is not so much an individual's choice to furnish a home or room in a minimalist style but rather the broader Western drift toward extreme simplification for its own sake. According to this view, minimalism has deprived design of a certain visual richness, sacrificing details and colors that once gave vibrancy to spaces. In short, the clean lines that characterized modernism with a strong identity have lost originality due to their constant presence. Moreover, the growing prevalence of mass-produced objects at the expense of craftsmanship has further diminished attention to ornamentation. This process has led to a kind of aesthetic uniformity, a phenomenon less pronounced in other historical periods when variety and decorative richness were integral to the visual language.