Beyond its functional purpose, glass can be designed and used to change the look of a space as a decorative material, known as decorative or ornamental glass. Frosted, colored, and textured glass may be among the best-known decorative glass usages with visually impressive results.

In architecture, glass has enabled the evolution from plain, solid walls to a see-through and light-permeable outer skin. This is a material that allows us to erect open, transparent, and seemingly weightless buildings, enhancing the relation between interior and exterior or, in other words, between humans and space, light, and nature.