Blenko Glass Gallery

Abstract

This master's thesis is the design and discussion of a glass gallery and museum for the Blenko Glass factory in Milton, West Virginia. It is an exploration of Hertzberger’s concept of warp and weft.

Let us take the image of a fabric such as constituted by warp and weft. You could say the warp established the basic ordering of the fabric, and in doing so creates the greatest opportunity to achieve the greatest possible variety and colorfulness in the weft. The warp must first and foremost be strong and of the correct tension, but as regards to color it needs merely to serve as a base. It is the weft that gives color, pattern and texture to the fabric, depending on the imagination of the weaver. Warp and weft make up an invisible whole, the one cannot exist without the other, they give each other their purpose.