Glass

The use of glass in architecture in Caracas
Caracas is a city that grown up very quickly the last 70 years. Caracas was called the city of red roofs, because the main constructions were tradicional houses, there were not big malls or supermarkets and the people´s live was monotonus and peaceful. El Hatillo picture

This situation changed when Venezuela had good political and economical opportunites, so that allowed the coming of International industries. These industries bringht to Venezuela not only advantages on mechanic technology or chemistry but also brought new trends in architectural desing, new materials for the construction and a new ideas for fashion decorating.

That was the beginning of a decade of changes in Architecture where Caracas could see the born of big and modern office buildings, Universities, theater, clubs and malls made all on concrete, glass, brick or in a combination of all of them Universidad Central de Venezuela ( Arc. Carlos Raul Villanueva)

Club Tachira ( Arc. Fruto Vivas)

Teatro Teresa Carreño ( Arc. Tomas Lugo Marcano)

Torre La Previsora  This trend has not stopped to this day and is still looking more and more buildings(specially office ones) with a simple style but very modern  using glass as main constructive material on facades. I am totally agree that the result are beatiful and amazing buildings that sometimes, we can´t imagine how they were built! But we must consider that Venezuela is a tropical country, what it means warm whether all the year.  So, my viewpoint is that is nice to see all around the city buildings made on glass because they created a optical ilusion with the reflection of other buildings in their facades. But, architects and engineers must consider the waste of energy on air conditioner and specilly the enviroment impact that sometimes cause that reflection of light in parks or rivers, like is the case of Parque Cristal on the Parque del Este. Parque Cristal ( J. Alcock) Parque del Este

Cubo Negro

Torre Edicampo