Wouldn't a steel sheet be lighter for a given amount of strength over a surface area?
Looks like steel is ~3x the weight of glass per unit of volume, but I bet thinner steel could be used than what we'd use for glass.
Putting the aesthetics aside, I am not sure but I don't know that 1/3 of the amount of steel compared to x thickness of glass would be stronger. Thin steel is pretty flexible. We would need a structural engineer to weigh in.
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