# Holding a shadow

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2019-04-01

all-glass-buildings, architecture, design, glass-buildings, hudson-yards, le-corbusier, mies-van-der-rohe, new-york-city, play-of-volumes, the-transparency-trap, toronto, toronto-dominion-centre, urbanism, witold-rybczynski

---

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/0639df437029effd6a49afb94a513bb9.jpg)

Debating the merits -- or shortcomings, depending on which camp you're in -- of all-glass buildings isn't new. But there seems to be a bit of a resurgence happening right now because of the [recent opening of Hudson Yards](https://brandondonnelly.com/2019/03/15/hudson-yards-opens-in-new-york/) in New York.

There's an important environmental consideration here: Glass is, as a rule, a poor insulator. But often the other concern with all-glass buildings is their sameness. Witold Rybczynski recently wrote about this on his blog in a post called [_The Transparency Trap_](https://www.witoldrybczynski.com/architecture/the-transparency-trap/):

> _Le Corbusier described (modernist) architecture as “the masterly, correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light.” Corbusier used glass but he never designed all-glass buildings. Neither did Mies; he added superfluous I-beams to his facades (which also had substantial spandrels). The problem with transparent glass is that it doesn’t hold a shadow, and without a shadow there can be no “play of volumes.” Since minimalist modernist architecture doesn’t offer decoration or ornament, that doesn’t leave much to look at._

Witold isn't usually appreciative of that which is new and I often find myself disagreeing with this critiques. But I like his metaphor of "holding a shadow." Light and shadow are, of course, fundamental to architecture.

_Photo by_ [_LinedPhoto_](https://unsplash.com/photos/JoCwmYYUvH4?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) _on_ [_Unsplash_](https://unsplash.com/search/photos/toronto-dominion?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)

---

*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/holding-a-shadow)*