Color in Selected Artistic Glass Compositions by Tomasz Urbanowicz as an Element of Intervention in Historic Buildings and Contemporary Architecture

Colored glass in the form of stained-glass windows has been used to decorate buildings for over a thousand years. Due to various late-twentieth-century technological achievements, this material allows for a broad spectrum of design solutions. Glass can be used both in contemporary and historical buildings. This paper presents an analysis of the work of Tomasz Urbanowicz, an artist who works with glass, and its objective is to present not only the body of work of this artist but also the means of using colored glass in creating new values in architecture. The work is based on a study of the literature that covers the contemporary application of colored glass, on-site analysis of projects, and a series of interviews with the artist before, during, and after project completion, as well as the authors’ personal experience in the matter. One of the main research methods used was an analysis of the artist’s stance, as to him, the very process of pursuing creative inspiration is a fundamental procedure. Glassworks by Urbanowicz were displayed at the EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Germany), the EXPO 2005 in Aichi (Japan), and the EXPO 2008 in Saragossa (Spain). The United Earth glass sphere has been decorating the agora of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg (France) since 2004. In the paper, the artist’s projects are presented in two groups: The first includes solutions that employ monochromatic color schemes, whereas in the second, color has been used to create a strong contrast. The analysis presented includes interventions in historical buildings under heritage conservation, but also compositions from architectural glass in newly built buildings and that reference place-based history. Both the initial vision and the final effect of the glass architectural compositions are site-specific. The analysis of these differences and how the artist works allowed us to formulate a scheme of how he operates. Urbanowicz’s glass interventions affect the quality of the spaces they create and highlight their existing or expected features. The influence of the works can either play a primary and dominant role in relation with the surrounding space or be a secondary and delicate addition. Applied color may have different functions, from highlighting specific aspects of a building to introducing symbolic or direct reference. In many projects, color works as a source of a building interior’s atmosphere. The artistic interventions in historic spaces emphasize their features without disrupting pre-existing authenticity, whereas contemporary projects with no historic reference offer a wide variety of color applications that focus on the function and form of architecture, landscape, or surroundings.

Variety of the drift pumice clasts from the 2021 Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba eruption, Japan.

Pumice rafts that arrived at the Nansei Islands, Japan, provided a unique opportunity to investigate the Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba (FOB) eruption of August 2021. Despite drifting for two months for >1300 km, the drift pumice raft had a large volume and contained a variety of pumice clasts, some of which were deposited during a high tide in a typhoon, while others were washed up on a sandy beach. Most of the drift pumice clasts are gray in color, vesicular, and have a groundmass containing black enclaves, which are similar to those collected in the ocean near FOB about one week after the eruption. Rare black pumice and the main gray pumice components have similar trachytic compositions, with SiO2 = 61–62 mass% and total alkalis = 8.6–10 mass% (on an anhydrous basis). Both pumice types contain clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and rare olivine phenocrysts. Thin-section observations show that the gray pumice has more elongated vesicles as compared with the black pumice that has spherical vesicles, even where the two types of pumice are in the same clast. The glass in the black pumice is transparent and brown in color, while that in the gray pumice is colorless. No micro or nano-crystals were observed during electron and optical microscopy in the brown domain. Raman spectra of the brown-colored glass exhibit a clear magnetite peak, suggesting magnetite nanolites cause the brown color. High-Mg (100 × Mg/[Mg+Fe] = 92) olivine in the black pumice has an equilibrium temperature of 1240 °C and a rim diffusion profile indicative of re-equilibration with the surrounding melt over a period of hours to days.The textural relationships between the gray and black pumice suggest that the black pumice had become black and viscous before the two types of pumice mixed. Therefore, crystallization of magnetite nanolites and a corresponding increase in melt viscosity were important in the eruption preparation process, which then resulted in a large-scale Plinian eruption.

Structural color coatings for high performance BIPV

Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) offer aesthetics and freedom of design for architects and home owners. This can accelerate implementation and free up new spaces for solar energy harvesting at building level, which is a necessary step towards a climate neutral built environment. Colored solar panels with high conversion efficiency and low cost price are an important development for large scale market penetration of BIPV. Here we report a solution processed structural color coating for solar panels and solar collectors. We show that virtually any color can be prepared, that the desired coating stack can be designed using optical calculations and that the exact color can be produced via a low cost solution process. Furthermore, we show that the light transmission for the colored glass plates is still very high, exceeding commonly used absorbing colors and enables very high solar cell efficiency. The colored PV panels have been tested in real environment and via accelerated lifetime testing for 3 years without any performance decline or degradation.

Extraordinary Burial of Trikolsky Burial Ground in the Lower Reaches of the Belaya River

The article introduces into scientific discourse the materials of the burial 15 of the Trikolsky burial ground studied in 1978 by V.A. Ivanov. This burial featured finds unique for the entire Pyany Bor culture – a glass bowl and a cassolette. The burial also contained beads made of single-color and multi-colored glass and glass with a metal inlay, pendants made of adult moose incisors, bronze plaques, openwork overlays, temple pendants, etc. The authors concluded that the unique items came to the Pyany Bor population as a result of contacts with Sarmatian nomads in the 1st century AD. In addition, the study presents data on the manufacturing material of certain items obtained using natural scientific methods. It was determined that the cassolette was made of a sedimentary rock – argillite. Metal items, except a leaf-shaped pendant made of precious metal, are made of tin bronze. A “gum” sample discovered next to a glass bowl contains matter of vegetable origin. Its components are betulinic and tricyclic acids contained in birch bark and conifer resin (oleoresin), respectively.

Compositional Variation and Color Diversity of Glass Beads from a 4th Century Tomb Complex in Korea

This study investigated the chemical compositions and color diversity of various colored glass beads excavated from the 4th century Suchonri site in Korea. The results reveal that the compositions of the coloring materials and stabilizers contain black or white impurities, and there are clear boundaries in the weathered surfaces within the glass beads. The weathered side turned brown, the amounts of Na and K are greater, and there is a decrease in alkali elements. The fragments in blue-green beads from tomb No. 11 were identified as potash glass, whereas the rest of the samples were soda glass. Analysis of the coloration elements identified Fe and Cu in all glass beads, and it was estimated that both elements resulted in a green color. Fe was predicted to cause a brown color. The results of the study may be used not only for scientific interpretation of the relics from the Suchonri tomb complex but also as archaeological evidence that may contribute to the material characterization of the ancient glass from the Korean peninsula.

Improved Die Attribute Recognition via Colored Glass Wafer

The rise of various Wafer technologies has been developed based on industries and applications requirement. Highest quality of material characterization is complex and requires specialized process equipment and manufacturing procedures to meet defined design standards. The paper presents distinctive glass wafer-level fabrication technology that will enhance its properties with respect to pattern recognition system (PRS) at back-end manufacturing for industrial applications. Feasibility of colored glass wafer has been built into proposed conception to manufacture wafer-level packaging. The idea from transparent to colored glass wafer came from manufacturing key challenges that cutting sequence during pattern recognition cannot be distinguished. The proposed solution will mitigate high risk of misaligned cut at wafer sawing and its potential attachment on leadframe during die attach. glass wafer dice, transparent in nature, intermittently encountered multiple PRS assist during Wafer sawing and die attach as it hardly recognizes its cutting positions. Since dependent of machine capability limitations, misaligned cut is inevitable and usually happen occasionally. Addressing its unrecognizable characteristic, proposed colored glass wafer and with visible outline and saw lane fabrication was conceptualized instead of seeking ideal and high equipment model that can differentiate its opaque feature. The colored glass wafer and with visible outline and saw lane naturally creates segmentation visibly and will not be parameter dependent during manufacturing.

Fabrication of Multi-Layer Metal Oxides Structure for Colored Glass

This study proposes front colored glass for building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems based on multi-layered derivatives of glass/MoO3/Al2O3 with a process technology developed to realize it. Molybdenum oxide (MoO3) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) layers are selected as suitable candidates to achieve thin multi-layer color films, owing to the large difference in their refractive indices. We first investigated from a simulation based on wave optics that the glass/MoO3/Al2O3 multi-layer type offers more color design freedom and a cheaper fabrication process when compared to the glass/Al2O3/MoO3 multi-layer type. Based on the simulation, bright blue and green were primarily fabricated on glass. It is further demonstrated that brighter colors, such as yellow and pink, can be achieved secondarily with glass/MoO3/Al2O3/MoO3 due to enhanced multi-interfacial reflections. The fabricated color glasses showed the desired optical properties with a maximum transmittance exceeding 80%. This technology exhibits promising potential in commercial BIPV system applications.

Utilization of Waste Glasses as Supplementary Cementitious Materials

Wastes of Glass are recognized as pozzolanic material. This study aims to investigate utilization of local glass wastes in Sudan as supplementary cementitious materials. Two glass wastes specimens having different colors are procured from a local source namely Sudanese Emirati Glass and Metal Company (SEGMAL). Then thy are ground to micro sizes producing two types of glass powders, clear white glass powder (W-GP) and colored glass powder (C-GP). The two Specimens are characterized using tests specified in American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM C311. These tests include chemical properties using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Loss on Ignition (LOI), Insoluble Residue (IR), also physical properties such as fineness, specific gravity, water requirement, and strength activity index (SAI). This study shows that at 7 days W-GP and C-GP produced SAI of 84% and 87% at 7-days respectively. These values are more than the 75% of SAI’s requirements of ASTM C618. Both specimens have outperformed the control OPC mix at 28 days by producing SAI of 108.68% and 123.82% for GP-W and GP-C respectively.

Color coated glazing for next generation BIPV: performance vs aesthetics

Through the H2020 BE-SMART project, we work on the validation and industrialization of new materials (and processes) for manufacturing next-generation cost-efficient, reliable and highly aesthetic/performing BIPV. On this basis, we aim at introducing novel multifunctional and transformative BIPV elements, in the concept/form of Energy Positive Glazing (EPoG). The project's developments so far indicate the high potential of e.g. using colored encapsulants, interferential filter technique and/or ceramic-based colored glazing for implementing novel “transformative” BIPV with high aesthetic quality. Yet, since BIPV's primary function is electricity production, we need to understand and quantify the impact of such coloration solutions on the performance (and reliability, in longer terms) of future BIPV. In this paper, we present an experimental comparative study on the optical and electrical performance of multiple color coated and patterned BIPV glazing solutions, towards their upscaling and commercialization. In particular, we performed optical transmission measurements and light intensity-/angle-depent IV characterization on 25 different colored glass samples and 10 different colored/patterned glass PV laminates respectively. The measurement results and their discussion presented in this paper provide valuable insights into the optical-electrical performance of the investigated colored BIPV glazing, as well as a first identification of BIPV industry-relevant colors and patterns with the best potential “compromise” between aesthetics and performance, for future energy positive glazing applications.