Wood+and+Glass

__**Wood and Glass**

Glass in Caracas__

There are many buildings with glass facades in Caracas, but sometimes, glass isn't the best way to protect a building from weather, with also bringing the benefit of sunlight and transparency, specially in a tropical weather like this. For example, it's been calculated that, if the "Cubo Negro" building, made out of black tinted sheets of glass, were built out of bricks instead, would save around 3 times the energy that it spends in air conditioning. Since the building is made almost completely out of glass, specifically, black glass, it absorbs almost all the heat and sunlight possible, making it impossibly hot. Also, it's been demonstrated that most of the fires produced in the national park "Parque del Este" are caused by the building "Parque Cristal". Built with reinforced concrete and sheets glass, this building, located in front of the park, reflects light into it causing these fires, acting like it was some sort of magnifying glass covering the park.