///PhD Defense: Advancing Transparency by Lisa Rammig
In light of the climate crisis our planet is currently facing and the effect our use of resources has on our lives, the association with transparency is not only related to its physical attributes but with a methaphorical meaning of providing transparency into economical and political action. In an architectural context transparency is primarily considered on a material level. We often take the availability of daylight for granted and the effect it has on our health.
This dissertation is focused on and around a material that has fascinated me for many years – glass. It’s a material of contrast. It creates tension. It makes us feel uncomfortable!
Glass is very strong but brittle, when used as a window it forms an invisible layer of protection but it also exposes us, making us vulnerable to views. It is resistant to many substances, it doesn’t corrode. But when it breaks, results can be consequential. But most importantly: it lets light pass through – glass is transparent.
As with the material itself, the transparency of glass structures is fascinating and daunting at the same time. The emotional distrust towards a transparent material opposes the rational knowledge that the material would be sufficiently strong to form a structure.
When designed traditionally, due to its brittleness glass requires an additional material to form a connection that can transfer loads.
These antagonsisms are what has driven me for the last few years with the goal to learn about the material glass and to explore how some of its properties can be exploited further to showcase its purity, transparency and beauty in its clearest manisfestations to form connections that are nothing but glass – and transparent.
So: Connecting glass with heat – An experimental approach to the implementation of heat bonding into glass connection design for structural applications!
Defense date: 17.05.2022
Link to the thesis: Advancing Transparency | TU Delft Repositories
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