Buildings shell transparency. Considerations, examples and constructive solutions in contemporary architecture

"Even an inattentive observer will have noticed how one of the dominant elements in contemporary architecture, as well as in common tastes, lies in the tendency to create surfaces and structures that are light,transparent, virtually immaterial," states Francesco Cellini. "That the extent and international diffusion of this figurative phenomenon (as often happens in historiography and criticism when the desire to label and classify things prevails over the commitment toward understanding them) is easily verified could lead us to interpret it as a consistent, homogeneous,and systematic fact: it is as if the international architectural community had concordantly reached a turning point in its otherwise complex and contradictory development. Vice versa, through a rough analysis of the main contemporary applications it can be seen that the situation is anything but "homogeneous." For example, from the standpoint of technological innovation, the passing from glued to suspended glass panes, the possibility of "playing" with light by means of silk-screen processes, and above all the introduction of new window systems have brought about a vast range of technical solutions capable of suggesting numerous architectural variations. Furthermore, the transformation of façades into a vehicle for images, or for electronic messages, seems to decree the architect’s loss of control over the age-old building/environment relationship: buildings appear changeable, like the movements and flow of people.