For a time, glass architecture seemed to be obsessed with the pursuit of records and the development and application of ever more spectacular technology. Today, all-glass buildings are nothing new, and it is no longer necessary to demonstrate that glass load-bearing beams and columns are possible. As a result, new opportunities for the use of glass in architecture are emerging.Glass is an ambivalent material. On the one hand, it is hard and aloof and seems to be intrinsically technical by nature. On the other hand, it possesses all manner of sensuous and aesthetic qualities. It reflects light, but is also penetrated by it. It is transparent, yet has a material presence; and it can focus, deflect and diffract light, and divide it into the individual colours of the spectrum. Christian Schittich