Interactive screens that can be switched to become reflective or function as translucent room dividers, or which seem almost to dissolve into thin air – these state-of-the art displays are pointing the way toward translucent building envelopes. They are coming closer and closer to Mike Davies’s vision of a Poly­valent Wall (1981).

Several of the products and research projects presented here were on display at “glass technology live” at this year’s Glasstech trade fair in Düsseldorf.