The suggestion that stained (or art) glass applied to a retail or commercial facility can communicate similarly to that mounted in a place of contemplation (spiritual or otherwise) minimizes the concepts of genius loci, of art and of architecture itself. Representational or not, key to the experience of stained glass is the interplay between the dynamic sun and the static glass, and the effect of the transformed sunlight on the built space. This is not an instantaneous phenomenon but rather one that requires consideration and reflection. It speaks to the relationship between the individual and the cosmos.
For one view of the importance of stained glass to a major work of architecture, I highly recommend Father Hillary Thimmesh's Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church and, in particular, the discussions surrounding the selection of the artist for the north window.
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Carl Stein FAIA
Prinicpal
Elemental Architecture LLC
New York NY
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