A sought-after material for interior designs, glass lends a modern, sleek aesthetic, bounces daylight deeper into spaces and offers a wide range of colors, styles and textures. Enhancing hygiene, improving acoustics and enabling privacy, glass is a popular choice for a wide range of interior applications.
Promoting transparency and creating an open, comfortable environment, glass partitions, sliding doors, room dividers and pods support visual connections, natural light transmission and flexibility in offices, healthcare facilities, educational settings, retail venues, hospitality spaces and more.
If desired, designers can select glass with a low-iron substrate for a clear, crisp appearance with no greenish tint.
Glass is commonly found in wall cladding, ceilings, flooring, railings, elevator cabs, casework, shower enclosures, writing surfaces and the list goes on. As a writing surface, glass can function as a sturdy, easy-to-clean dry erase board.
Unlike some other materials, glass surfaces and applications are easy to wipe down, do not absorb germs or mold, are cost effective and easy to install.
Apache Corporation
Glass: Starphire® Glass
Decorative Glass
In addition to the regular glass panes commonly used for the above-mentioned applications, there’s an extensive range of decorative glass types.
Glass can be digitally printed, back painted and can incorporate colored interlayers. With advanced technology, the exact colors in artist drawings and digital art can be recreated on the glass. Colored and artistically rendered glass is commonly used for branding, accents and public art in office, educational, community, municipality, retail, hospitality and transportation facilities.
With etched glass and other methods, interior glass panes can be designed to incorporate patterns, textures, frost and shades of translucency and transparency. Glass also can be designed and fabricated in gradients that fade or increase in intensity.
Another popular decorative glass element is mirrors. In addition to the upscale look they create, mirrors are a great way to enhance daylighting and make a space appear larger. Mirrors daylight by bouncing it around the room. Consequently, the space is brighter, and the resulting health, mood, productivity and economic benefits afforded by the natural light are amplified.
The thoughtful design and placement of mirrors is commonly specified for offices, restaurants, hotels and multi-family properties.
Dynamic Glass
Switchable privacy glass is also gaining traction in offices, healthcare facilities, showrooms and educational settings. With the switch of a button, sliding doors, partitions, walls and shower enclosures can switch from transparent to opaque when privacy is required or needed. Conversely, the glass can be switched back when transparency and/or views are desired.
Architects often specify switchable glass for conference rooms and medical spaces like emergency rooms and clinics where clusters of exam rooms or patient rooms flip back and forth between needs for transparency and privacy.
Glass manufacturers also offer curved switchable glass solutions for applications like enclosures, railings, glass elevators, staircases, walls and showers.
Safety and Security
Another feature interior glass solutions offer is safety and security. Glass provides lines of site to security personnel within a facility in addition to impact resistance, if desired. Vandal resistant features are useful for highly trafficked, public, transportation and institutional venues.
Apache Corporation
Calgary, Alberta, T2P 4K9;
Glass: Starphire® Glass
Photography credit: Bruce Damonte
Overall, the wide variety of features that interior glass designs offer is well suited for specific applications. The following are key examples:
- Diffusing Sunlight — Entrance areas, bars and lounges, office interiors, retail stores, co-working spaces, corridors
- Lighting Effects — Stair railings, interior walls, room dividers, shower stalls
- Color Rendering — Museum exhibits, mural walls, accent panels, branded interiors
- Decorative and Design Accents — signs, murals, atrium walls, glass doors, stairwells
- Privacy and Security — Interior walls, doors, cubicles, room dividers
- Functional Spaces — Interior walls, doors, cubicles, room dividers
For ideas, inspiration and information on varied interior glass options, visit starphireglass.com.
Updated on September 20, 2024
