INTERLUDE:

Smart glass

Excerpt from Dr Amy Sorensen’s book, The New Aesthetic, chapter ten, page eleven to twelve, on Icomo Architecture, published by the Vespri Institute of Art.

The houses and buildings of Icomo constructed since the turn of the century are generally designed in what has become known as the new aesthetic. That is to say, their exteriors are made entirely of smart glass.

Unbreakable, unsmudgeable, and unscratchable, smart glass has dominated architectural trends ever since its invention by Dr Hugo Seabright of Ii. On a whim, they can become transparent or opaque from either the outside or inside, and project any desired color. Smart-glass surfaces also do not require the wearing of Eyes to be visible.

In the early days of smart glass, many homeowners and businesses in Mo had taken to exercising their individuality by having psychedelic houses, with colors washing over the town like tsunamis of paint. This trend has steadily declined in favor of more neutral palettes.

The people of Mo generally have the least rules about what color to make their houses. Over time they have struck a natural balance with their neighbors and the environment, and it is no longer so nauseatingly vibrant as before. Certain ordinances had in fact been established after locals began to complain of feeling ‘smart-glass nauseous.’

Up in Ii, people generally pick whatever color or non-color their neighbors are using, and would not be caught dead with anything flamboyant as in Mo, whose people do not generally care what others think of them. The buildings in Ii often project cloudscapes or water-like surfaces, whereas in Co there are many colorless and mirror-like skyscrapers.

The rule-loving Co have the most guidelines about house and building color, varying between towns as well as times of day. Typically, their houses are uniformly colored, or strictly confined to a narrow scheme. Often this means that houses project a neutral color, like white, black, or beige, with only the outline of the house illuminated in another color.

In common between the regions is that rooftops are often on a setting to become transparent in good weather or during a night with high visibility. They become opaque, according to user preferences, on days with high glare…

End of excerpt.