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Overview
Overview
A wide-ranging illustrated history of transparency as told through the evolution of the glass window Transparency is a mantra of the day. It is closely tied to the Western understanding of a liberal society, and it informs key areas of our lives. We expect transparency, for instance, from political institutions, corporations, and the media. But how did it become such a powerful--and global--idea? Spanning from antiquity to modern times and ranging from medieval stained glass to Apple's corporate headquarters, this book is the first to probe how Western people have historically experienced, conceptualized, and evaluated transparency. Daniel Jütte argues that transparency, as a large-scale and mass experience, first and foremost has been an architectural experience. This experience, in turn, has been inextricably linked to one element of Western architecture: the glass window. Windows are meant to be unnoticed. Yet a historical perspective reveals the role that glass has played in shaping how we perceive the relation between interior and exterior space and thus how we see and interpret the world. Glass--a seemingly "pure" material--has been endowed, throughout history, with political, social, and cultural meaning, in manifold and sometimes conflicting ways. Jütte explores two millennia of history but also raises questions about the future of vitreous transparency. He considers not only its costs in terms of visual privacy, but also its ecological price tag in an age of accelerating climate change.
- Format: Hardcover
- Author: Jutte, Daniel
- ISBN: 9780300237245
- Condition: New
- Number Of Pages: 512
- Publication Year: 2023
Language:
English