Many people think that glass is a beautiful but fragile material. In fact, glass can be stronger than concrete. At least that’s how it was made by MVRDV, which recently refurbished its Chanel brand store in Amsterdam with a fully transparent glass façade. This is an exact copy of the original brick facade, only the brick was replaced with glass tiles during the reconstruction..
MVRDV has collaborated with dozens of experts, including from local architectural firms, Delft University of Technology, various engineers from prestigious companies, etc. The development of glass bricks was carried out for a whole year. Various technologies have been used, from lasers to industrial adhesives and even skim milk (used as a reflective surface to flatten the first layer of bricks).
The bricks were custom molded. They were glued in place with UV-based adhesives. The glue, by the way, was tested at the Delft University of Technology. And there they found out that the structure turned out to be stronger than a concrete wall..
The building, which has been renovated with glass bricks, is a large center with 620 square meters of retail space on the lower level and 22 square meters of housing on the upper level..
