Sankar Iyer tries his best to squeeze in glass into every one of his designs, even if it’s a small coffee table. That’s because he loves the material and admires the aesthetic value it brings with it. Apart from that, he swears by its eco-friendly nature. “Glass can help save on power costs. In malls and other corporate buildings, ECBC norms impose certain limits on artificial lighting. We can get only so much light from LEDs. Glass opens up the building to natural light and helps architects design buildings according to ECBC norms,” he grins. “With this you can save at least 15-20% on power bills.”

Sound-proof glass is another favourite of his clients, says Anand. “People work hard nowadays and want to sleep in complete silence without traffic noise interfering with their rest. We can use double-glazed glass with an air gap in between 2 sheets of glass for sound-proofing rooms,” he says.

High performance glass needs to be custom-made. An architect needs to design and measure the glass requirements accurately before the glass manufacturer can make it according to the specifications. Once that is done, it takes very little time for the construction to come up, says Anand. “A construction that takes 100 days to complete can be constructed within 80 days if the envelope used is glass.”

Glass is tough and more or less as strong as metal, says Anand. “Clients are often scared of using glass in their buildings because they feel it will break easily,” he laughs. “That’s not true at all. Glass can be made as tough as any other material. And of course its beauty is unmatched,” signs off Anand.