The Use of Glass in Museums From Past to Present - Coursework Example

The use of Glass in Museums from past to Present The use of Glass in Museums from past to Present Introduction Glass has been in usefor centuries. It can be regarded as an ancient material but not really as it has persisted over time and its use has changed with every discovery made regarding how its properties can be manipulated. What has been revolutionary about glass is the ability to produce it in large quantities. This is because for nearly two millenniums, glass was a special field for skilled persons in advanced civilizations. These skilled person included craftsmen and artists. Presently, glass exists in almost all areas of human kind that even its existence is rarely noticed. It has become an integral part of our lives. However, this is a stark contrast to what ancient people experienced. In the past, glass was regarded as a special. This is depicted by ancient Egyptians who regarded glass as a valuable material. How is this known? Inside the tombs of Egyptian rulers commonly known as pharaohs were glass beads. The production of glass has been going on for ages. This has been proved through discoveries in archaeology. It has been proven that in the past, crude glass was produced. Over time, man developed advanced means of production to produce glass of better predetermined shapes. It is from this knowledge that glass was and has been developed for various uses, uses in the building and construction of old times and present, chemical industry, transport industry and for basic use in homes. This paper looks at the use of glass in the building and construction industry, specifically the use of glass in museums in present times and its use in the past. Throughout history, the type of glass that has been used is one whose main constituent is silica. This means that the method that man has used to make glass has been common. It has been transferred from one society to another. However, as the methods of making glass have advanced, it has not been necessary to use silica in the production of glass. In the past, glasses were manufactured through melting and cooling. Still, this method of glass production is been replaced by vapour disintegration. This method involves use of sol – gel in the making up of solutions. Vapour disintegration also involves use of radioactivity properties, specifically irradiation of crystalline substances with neutrons. Many types of glasses have been developed. These include organic glasses, inorganic glasses, metallic glasses and non – metallic glasses. In the past, the types of glasses that have been used are non – metallic and inorganic glasses. At present, the types of glass that are largely in use are organic glasses with metallic glasses increasing in use over time (Skrabec & Quention, 2007). There are two main features that glass has shown over time. According to Shelby (2005), glass expresses changes that depend on time. These changes take place over a range of temperature known as the glass change range. Shelby (2005) also states that none of the glass that has been discovered from the past or presently made expresses long range atom arrangement. From these characteristics, Shelby (2005) goes on to give a definition of glass which states that glass is a solid which is amorphous, lacks a long range atomic arrangement in structure and shows an area of glass change behaviour over time. The most important reasons for the use of glass in the building and construction industry is its wide array of physical characteristics. This is what has given architects the reason to utilise it in their designs. The designing of museums falls in the building and construction industry. The physical characteristics that have enabled glass to be used in so many ways and methods in museums include its ability to resist chemicals. Research in chemistry has proven that glass can resist many acids that are in use. It is only hydrofluoric acid that glass cannot resist. As for bases, they only destroy its surface if it is not protected. Glass is also strong. This is depicted by its ability to oppose compression. Another vital characteristic of glass is ability to transmit light. However, it is not totally transparent as it retains around 13% of light in the visible light spectrum that passes through it only transmitting the rest. Meanwhile, it does not allow light transmission for light wavelength that is not in the visible light spectrum. Hence, it allows for human beings to see through it. It is these characteristic that has permitted its usage in museums all over the world in the past and present. In fact, its usage in the building and construction industry, let alone museums has been due to its amazing characteristic to transmit light and its strength in accomplishing many building functions. These building functions provide security, safety and even calm depending on how glass has been used (CSR Viridian New World Glass, 2011). The physical characteristics stated have allowed the use of glass in museums. Many museums in the past and present have made use of glass for various reasons. Various museums in the world have used glass in their designs. One such example is the Acropolis museum in Greece Athens. The museum is located at the foot of the Acropolis. What is outstanding about this museum is its great wealth of treasure from the past. It is able to connect the past and the present. The New Acropolis Museum is made up of 3 levels which constitute an area of 25,000 square metres. It has an exhibition space of 14, 000 square metres. The exhibition space of the old Acropolis Museum was 1,800 square metres (Moutsaki, 2012). The designers of the New Acropolis Museum, Michalis Fotiades and Bernard Tschumi made use of various materials in its design which include glass, marble, steel and materials that are part of the environment in Athens. This makes it to be in synchronization with the Acropolis while ensuring that it is different and outstanding from the buildings around it. In regard to size, the design of the New Acropolis Museum is different from the old one as it is ten times larger. In the Old Acropolis Museum, exhibition materials were placed over each other due to lack of enough room to house them. They were also kept in ancient store houses. The design of the New Acropolis Museum solved this problem by availing a large space for the display of the valuable works and pieces of art. The design of the New Acropolis Museum is such that it can house a working organization due to its large halls for time to time exhibitions, an amphitheatre, storage areas and laboratories. Bernard Tschumi states that its design was not based on the past or the present, but it was a design which enabled it to sustain its ambiguity. This way, it did not do away with the qualities of the Old Acropolis Museum or the features of Greek society; rather, it embraced them and incorporated them in its newness. The foundation of the New Acropolis Museum was laid in such a way that it stood upon the fossils of houses and buildings that were found out through excavation of the Acropolis (Damaskos, 2011). How is glass used in the Acropolis Museum? Glass is one of the materials which the architects of the Acropolis Museum made use of (AQUAPANEL, 2009). As noted earlier, its design was in such a way that it was spacious. This space allows for the large viewing of valuable material, works and pieces of art that are on exhibition in the museum. It is here that glass comes into play. Its architects designed it in such a way as to permit the statues to be visible under natural light. Physical characteristic of glass allow transmission of natural light through it, hence, the architects used glass. The type of glass used was high – spec glass which guaranteed that statues are not harmed by natural light as noted by Ensemble Experience (2013). Caskey (2011) notes that, its design was chosen so as to depict equilibrium between the museums’ architecture and monuments of the Acropolis where it stands. Glass is utilized to show this equilibrium by the use of glass panels that make up the ramp found in the museum. This glass panels that start from the ground floor enable visitors to view the remains that were discovered below the museum. These remains include roads, paths, ancient baths and shops. It depicts the difference between the old museum and the new museum through the use of glass. The floor of the Acropolis museum is made using glass. Immediately visitors walk into the museum, they are mesmerized by the opening of the floor beneath them due to the transparent glass. Beneath the floor is an ongoing excavation of fossils buried beneath the museum. The glass floor is persistent throughout the museum which ensures that visitors can view the past as it was without damaging it. The remains as Caskey (2011) notes are arranged in a timely manner to show the Byzantine times in the thirteenth century. Glass is also used in the labelling inside the New Acroplois Museum. The labels are done in both Greek and English and are put up in such a manner as not to hinder materials on display. The labels on the glass are short and to the point for identification purposes and not explanation. Vertical glass panels have more details that avail a description of the history of displayed material along with ideas which aid visitors in interpretation of the purpose of displayed objects (Caskey, 2011). The lighting in the Acropolis Museum is fabulous. This is made possible by the use of glass. The architects considered the changes that came along with the variations of the course of the sun along with sunlight intensity. Hence, there is abundant use of glass with enough space between glass walls. This permits total usage of sunlight or its regulation as needed. Translucent glass has also been used to decrease sunlight glare from the south of the sculpture gallery. However, this translucent glass does not hinder visitors from viewing the outside environment of the Acropolis Museum. This outstanding use of glass in the Acropolis Museum makes it a unification of the whole Acropolis making it a true museum area. The glass walls of the museum amplifies this unification in the sense that the outside and inside of the Acropolis museum are felt and experienced at the same time. The top floor of the Acropolis is made up of glass. It is rectangular in shape and stands imposingly. In the same way that the Acropolis museum makes use of glass to connect visitors with the museum and the area it is located in, so does the J. Paul Getty Museum in California do. J. Paul Getty Museum has many valuable and precious collected works. The beauty of this collection is enhanced by the use of glass in the design of its walls. Visitors are able to view Los Angeles from the museum through the glass walls. This provides for an overwhelming view of the area around the museum (Mendiratta, 2011). The security of museums is one of the most paramount issues that museum designs must consider. Museums, as Keller (1994) says are works of art. Many a times, security equipments are regarded as invasive and hindrances to the true feel and experience of the museum environment. It is important that the basis and outlook of museum buildings should remain unchanged or should not be damaged over time since the time of inception of a museum. Hence, the security measures that have to be used in museums are normally restricted to a select few. Due to the varying features of glass, it has become common place to use glass that is resistant to high amounts of force to prevent breaking in into the museum by thieves. This is a modern use of glasses in museums (Keller, 1994). As much as glass is used to display objects and materials in museums, the type of glass used for such purposes is designed in such a way that it is hard to break into. Coupled with the advantage of visibility, it provides display and security while allowing visitors to have a sense of connection and safety within the museum (Howarth, et al., 1999). The glass that is used for protective purposes is usually modified to ensure that glare is reduced to the minimum if not totally eradicated. This is unlike in the past museums whereby security was done by locking away the works of art and materials in storage rooms with heavy doors and bars to ensure security (Haldimann, Luible & Overend, 2008). The Preus museum is one of the oldest museums of the nineteenth century. According to Gold (2013), glass was used for the preservation of photographs through the use of ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. Glass was used to encase the photographs. The glass used during these times was decorated by painting it on the back. This was termed as ‘Hinterglasmalerei.’ Glasses used to encase photographs were also decorated using gold lines that were metallic in nature. This was a different use of glass in the past unlike how it is used presently. The glass type used in the Preus museum was made in the nineteenth century. This glass was of a special feature due to the way it was designed. Glass that is used in modern museums is of a different design to meet the current needs of today’s world. The design of glass used in Preus museum involved sheets of glass that were flat. These sheets of glass were produced by what Gold (2013) termed as the cylinder method. It was composed of several steps with the first being the making of a cylinder which resembled a bottle. The bottom end of this cylinder was then cut off leaving a hollow cylinder. The hollow cylinder was then cut from one end to the other. Using heat, the cylinder was opened up and spread onto a table surface to form a sheet of glass. It is this glass type that was used in Preus museum to make its windows and encase photographs as ambrotype and daguerreotype glass covers. During the production process of glass, there were chances that the glass was contaminated by impurities. There were also variations in the amount of raw substances used to make the glass. As a result, these types of glass were of various colours from green to yellow. These forms a comparison basis with the mirrors used in museums today. Due to the colours produced, glasses used in the Preus museum were also used for decorative by being incorporated onto the window frames. In the processing stage, a lot of hand work was used to model the glass into required shapes and sizes. As a result, glass had flaws such as rough surfaces or solid materials in it. For decoration of the museum, this was advantageous; however, the glass would not be used for any other purpose apart from decorations (Gold, 2013) Fast forward to the present times, things have changed, industrialization has taken effect and the process of manufacturing glass has evolved and advanced. The flaws that were experienced then have been eliminated. Glass that is produced presently is of smooth surface and hardly can a tiny solid particle be located inside it. This has ensured that the type of glass used in current museums such as the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece is used to cover up its walls and floors. Not for decorative purposes like in the past, but for visibility purposes. It is an integral component of the structural design of the museum. Another feature of glass that was used in Preus Museum was painting. According to Gold (2013), laboratory analysis of the glass indicated a vast array of binding substances along with colour pigments. The most conspicuous thing about the paintings was that virtually anything that could be used in the painting was utilised. This brought about many differences in the glass which contrasts the use of glass in today’s museums which is normally uniform. Painting of glass that was used in museums in the past blocked the transparency of glass as it is commonly associated with today. Currently, many museums are very specific on the type of glass in use. The main reason is to ensure that all museum artefacts are well displayed. Means of display is largely determined by what is on display. Architectures designing museums must take not of this and allow use of material that will be in tandem with the display specifications of the materials in the museum. Glass is a material which permits the use of numerous designs due to its ability to be shaped into varying shapes as a consequence of varying physical and chemical properties. Hence, it is evident that current use of glass in museums is highly elastic in that it is utilised to give museums a certain look like the Acropolis in Athens Greece, while also ensuring that it has room for exhibition to hinder overcrowding. This is a huge advantage in use of glass in current museums as many visitors can view an object from different angles and areas (Gold, 2013) Use of glass display in current museums allows visitors to have a look at materials on display at their own pace. It gives them an emotional connection with the museum which is very important in enhancing the number of visits to museums. Large displays that are made up of glass ensure that visitors are not hastened; this ensures controlled movement in museums. Visitors move around the museum driven by their own interest and not due to pressure resulting from crowding. A vital component of museums is light (Wotton, n.d.). Present museums have all taken considerations into the amount of light that the museum can accommodate. This is because too much light may harm various fragile valuable materials in the museum. Architects designing current museums consider this and they may limit the use of glass in the museum and opt for steel or glass that permits a certain wavelength of light can be used. This ensures control of UV rays passing through the glass. Control of natural light ensures that materials are well conserved in the museums and that the materials are displayed in the right manner. This allows for satisfaction of visitors (Wotton, n.d.). Toldedo Museum of Art has revolutionised the way glass is used in museums all over the world, a way glass has never been used like before. The museum has a glass pavilion which has changed the way art is displayed. Its architectures, Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima designed a glass pavilion which enables visitors to connect with the art in the museum. This as Pearson (2007) notes is like making up a more flowing dynamic that connects art and visitors. The architectures mainly used clear glass walls for the covering of the museum’s building along with its inner divisions. The way in which the architects designed the museum’s pavilion is in such a manner that the items of art seem to vanish, there seems to be no boundaries, corners nor a front or a back in the museum. The glass design has made all these possible availing for a dramatic scenario that is eye capturing and economic. This usage of glass in the Toledo Museum of Art has never been used in the past and is unique in its present time (Pearson, 2007). The glass pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art is 76,000 square feet. It holds up more than 5,000 collections of glass art that are found in the museum. It is well located in a park. Using glass connects the museum with the park which is visible from inside. It is quite tricky for glass art to be housed inside a glass building as the works of art are under the exposure of natural light due to the ability of glass to transmit light of various wavelength. In fact, it is quite a task that the architects were able to surmount bearing in mind that the display of glass art in a glass building is actually mind boggling as they are all made up of the same material, glass. How did the architects do these? They took advantage of the ability of glass to be transformed into various shapes with varying characteristics. This way, they were able to put up square corridors in the circular glass building of the museum. Usage of glass at the Toledo Museum of Art did away with the need for hallways and only a few were required. Displaying of the glass art in the glass museum building was done by putting up metal shelves off –axis to allow natural light into the shelves. By using glass, all materials in the museum were put under one roof. This is unlike in the past where museum materials were placed in different compartments making visitors to move from one area to another (Pearson, 2007). The glass building of Toledo Museum of Art has minimised the need for visitors to move as all works of art housed in the museum are visible from virtually all locations. Only small movements are needed by visitors. The collection of glass arts seems to be floating in space as it’s like placing glass on top of glass. They are in harmonization with the building’ structure making their display unique in that glass has done away with the traditional flat walls used in museums from which shelves were put up to display art. Presently, glass, is largely used in display techniques along with being a main component of the structural design of buildings that make museums. It seems the trend is moving away from the past usage of glass in museums that was aimed at decoration and preservation of museum materials in the past, to a broader trend that includes the museum as a whole (Pearson, 2007). Toledo Museum of Art uses glass to connect with the environment, just like at the Acropolis Museum, glass was used to connect it with its environment. This signifies a very important aspect of glass usage in museums at present. This usage takes into perspective the surroundings of the museum. Glass is used to ensure that museums are connected to their environment. Toledo Museum of Art has used glass in such a way. The museum itself seems to float into the park it is set up in as its exterior along with its interior is all made of glass. The inner glass divisions form a heat barrier which ensures heat energy is not easily lost hence leading to a decrease in the amount of energy consumed in the museum. It also ensures that moisture which would otherwise stain glass does not cool over the glass materials. This takes advantage of the heat properties of glass. The only threat to usage of glass in museums today is natural light. This is because too much natural light easily destroys materials in the museum that are decomposed by light (Druzik & Eshoj, 2007). Hence, the present use of glass is faced with light challenge unlike in the past whereby, as shown in the Preus Museum, the challenge past museums faced in glass usage was glass breakage. Presently, glass breakage has been overcome through advanced production means which have resulted in stronger glass. The issue of too much natural light in the museums of today is dealt with uniquely according to the specifications of the museum. As for Toledo Museum of Art, the light issue is tackled through the use of curtains which can be drawn and opened at any time (Pearson, 2007). Glass is also used in present museums to protect current paintings in museums which have high humidity. According to Toledo et al., (2007), five museums including MAC – PE, MAC – USP, MAM – RIO, MAP –BH and PINA – POA made up a group of museums which were used in carrying out a study on the use of glass boxes to shield current paintings. This protection of paintings is not unique to modern museums as the Preus Museum showed that photographs of the past were also protected in glass covered compartments. The advantage of using glass boxes in museums today is that it is quite easy to control the inner environment of the box as it has a lid; exposure of museum materials to dust is usually cut off when glass boxes are used, light control is easily achieved and control of the exposure of the material to microorganisms is achieved. The use of glass boxes enables museums to achieve the vital aim of museums which is to showcase. Glass does not obscure the material inside it. Hence, the purposes of storage, preservation and display are all attained by present museums. The disadvantage of using glasses in making glass boxes is that visibility is interfered with by glare (Toledo et al., 2007). Whitehouse (1996) states that the Vatican Museum which is the second oldest museum that was founded by Pope Julius II in 1506 (Mendiratta, 2011), has a collection of gold glasses. The museum has many gold glasses which were items that were made up of two connected layers of glass that had a gold foil ornament in between them. These gold glasses which can be found in the Vatican Museum are an indication of how glass was used in museums in the past. The gold glasses had colourful drawings that depicted a wide range of information. The collection of gold glasses in the museum is a confirmation that glass was used to decorate museums while preserving the cultural heritage of past societies. This is unlike today when it is used for display and storage purposes. The museum itself is made of glass windows which are filled with symbols and inscriptions on them. These symbols and inscriptions show how glass was also used in past museums to relay information. This is rarely seen in glasses used in present museums (Whitehouse, 1996). The use of glass in museums at present and in the present differs a lot. It is an indication of the advancement that has been made by man over the years. This is because glass is a complex substance, both to produce and use it in the way one wants to. Hence, museums in the past used glass for certain reasons such as decoration which are different from present museums which have used glass purposes such as display. It represents a big contrast in the way museums have evolved over time to different use of glass in them. What has remained constant is the basic function of museums which is to store a collection of valuable material for public viewing. Hence, architects have had to design museums around this basic function. Even the usage of glass in past and present museums as shown in the paper has largely been based around this basic function of museums. References AQUAPANEL, 2009. Athens Acropolis museum – where ancient meets modern. 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