A Glass Act
The Architectural Trend of Glass Block, at Once Nostalgic Yet Modern, Keeps Popping Up No Matter What You Do.
My first exposure to glass block was the basement windows of the little grandma houses in Raritan, New Jersey. As I pedaled my bike through town on my way to explore the Duke estates, I would marvel at these windows that looked like they were made up of tiny little windows.
However, I don’t think glass blocks truly registered with me until their use in a seemingly endless barrage of films of the 1980s. The translucent blocks made up room dividers, showers, front doors, windows and exterior walls in films like Beverly Hills Cop, St. Elmo’s Fire, Secret of My Success, Flashdance, The Fly, Weekend at Bernie’s, Desperately Seeking Susan, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Body Double and Three Men and a Baby. There were everywhere.
The popularity of the feature was aided by new styles like the Memphis design movement. Glass block could be used to easily create a modern look. The cubes were to the ‘80s films what the use of crisp, art-deco, black-and-white decor was to the Hollywood glamour films of the 30s. However, like so much of ‘80s fashion and design, glass block was left behind by the early ‘90s.