For windows, walls, and even stairs, glass plays a significant role in design. In the built environment, it is also an effective way to literally and symbolically underscore the cultural and organizational transparency that many of our clients nurture. Glass celebrates light, something innately understood by medieval architects in their use of stained glass, a fact not lost on Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Playing off the magic of stained glass, a two-story, multi-pane glass feature adds interest, color, and livens a stair and adjacent areas for this client.
Here, a wall of operable, vertical glass fins in a gradient of brand colors creates a feature wall as part of the redesigned stairwell. Fed from above by an added skylight, the play of light bathes the stair, pantry, and lounge areas, and filters through the colored fins, bringing a bright warmth to a communal hub.
Fins, angled to catch the light from panoramic views, etched with geometric abstractions of cascading water, mimic the river below in the shift and twist of their placement and are both a design and an informational feature. Translucent video screens floating over the fins tell the client’s story.
A timeless classic, etched glass is a device we’ve used for years that continues to be an engaging and effective design element for different types of projects.