Materials through Symbolic Lens: The Meaning of Glass in Western Architecture

Abstract

The buildings, techniques and materials with which spaces and volumes have been created and defined are part of the architectural heritage, being considered material heritage. However, a closer analysis allows us to grasp that it is about much more than material heritage since it is actually the petrification of a cultural moment. One of the keys to understanding is the meaning of material heritage as a result of a social structure that organizes and guides the modes of production, daily practices, lifestyles and their meanings; This article aims to focus on the attribution of meanings to materials. It is crucial to realize that various aspects (function, use, context, user, etc.) can be effective in attributing meanings to materials and must be taken into consideration during the selection process, so it is essential to focus on the aspects intangibles that govern the selection of materials as well. The intention is to open the lens through which all these material issues seek to incorporate a holistic point of view, that is, a way of analyzing that allows rebuilding the totality of relationships between people and their products since any designer creates and builds his objects imbued with the forms of social actions existing in daily practices that are always located in a space and time and therefore in a framework of political, social and economic conditions.