2017 - The Glass Chain

The Glass Chain

Space Popular's solo exhibition at Sto Werkstatt explores an alternative future for glass in architecture inspired by the legacy of the infamous Glass Chain Letters (1919–1920).

Sto Werkstatt’s brief for this new commission asked Space Popular to work with StoVentec Glass to redefine the limitations of the material and imagine its bright, colourful, and energising possibilities—encouraging us to imagine a new purpose for glass in building design.

The Glass Chain. Immersive Film - 5min. Location based experience.

Front side of The Glass Chain with seat/terrace. Photograph by Ben Blossom

Still from immersive film - The Glass Chain by Space Popular

Front view showing all 21 panels in full virtual three dimensions

The title ‘The Glass Chain’ is a reference to the infamous exchange of letters by a group of German architects from 1919-1920 initiated by Bruno Taut, fantasising about the myriad of possibilities of this incredible material: glass. Sadly, the letters explore a vision of glass that was never realised. These early days of modernism took a different turn: glass became a peripheral material of windows and walls with the ability to mediate spatial qualities while remaining invisible; whilst Taut instead believed that all architecture and even furniture could be made of glass and the material itself could have qualities to be mediated.

Glass Chain landscape. Expressionist architecture by members of the Glass Chain from left: Hermann Finsterlin, Wassili Luckhardt, Wenzel Hablik and Bruno Taut.

Following the legacy of the Bauhaus movement, today the use of glass in architecture has become a largely functional element of a building. Almost one hundred years later, Space Popular—inspired by the visions from that time— is taking up the mantle to wrest glass from its modernist confines and set it free to enjoy bold colour, complex forms and new meanings.

The design explores different ranges of scale, playing with our visual perception of glass doorways as grand arches and small steps as giant pediments. Space Popular have worked closely with Sto technical experts to realise a kaleidoscopic glass construction that uses glass to enhance, alter and question human perception of space across physical and virtual realities.