Glass is actually stronger than concrete. Many people do not realize that. That does not mean that you are are going to see glass columns supporting concrete floor slabs. But the fact is, many more projects these days are starting to utilize glass as a structural piece to create innovative exteriors and interiors as well as exuberant urban settings.

The Museum aan de Stroom in Belgium looks as though the glass is actually holding up the levels of the building. It’s not, but it looks cool. The building was designed by Neutelings Riedijk, a Dutch architecture. The building contains a series of stacked boxes which contain  galleries. The structure features a spiraled-like staircase. The glass that makes up the structure is corrugated which has been manufactured to provide greater diffusion of light.

Picture originally on www.archicentral.com

If straight panels would have been used, the glass would have been way too thick because of the 18 foot free span. Corrugated glass is so much stronger, so it works to take up the wind load for the large span. The corrugated glass is manufactured almost like curved glass, but corrugated glass gets one more step. With this building, the heavy parts of the exterior look like they are suspended above the glass.  The concrete boxes actually jet out from a central core of the building. The boxes are separated from the glass panels by a 2-inch space.

Architectural glass is constantly being used as a way to flare up modern structures. Uses of the glass are pushing the limits of imagination in order to create buildings that look good and impress.