Call us at 888.619.2226

Tag Archive for: glass house

Who wants to live in a glass house?

/in , /by
Who wants to live in a glass house?

Who wants to live in a glass house?

When you say “The Hamptons” and “real estate” in the same sentence, you’re bound to generate a lot of interest. One interesting property that’s currently on the market is a $5.5 million, 10,000-sq. ft, 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom home with a custom Scavolini kitchen, Gaggenau appliances, radiant floor heating, air conditioning, skylights, a heated pool and a garage. It also has floor to ceiling windows throughout. Yes, it’s all-glass.

If you’re worried about nosy neighbors, we note that the home is situated on nearly 2 acres and surrounded by trees. Lots of trees. And a 20-acre preserve.

The home was designed by Juan Figueroa and engineered by Jeff Smilow, who also engineered NYC’s Freedom Tower. The two-story home features two independent staircases that lead either to one of two master suites or four guest bedrooms. A quick trip through a basement tunnel will get you out to the home’s four-car detached garage.

The glass home design isn’t new. The late architect Phillip Johnson popularized the post-modern “glass house” design with his iconic Glass House, which he built in 1949 and where he resided until his death in 2005 at the age of 98. Built in New Canaan, CT, the structure, along with three companion buildings are now a National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Johnson was heavily influenced by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the fathers of modern architecture.

While the house in the Hamptons is a Johnson-style all-glass abode, most “glass house” designs feature glass on one or two sides that often face a scenic view. Heavy use of glass is becoming a thing for homes on both coasts that are lucky enough to have an ocean view. Architectural elements like glass staircases that appear to float from floor to floor are also a welcome addition.

If an all-glass home isn’t in your budget, you can still make excellent use of glass in decorating your own home, often with a little help from Glassprimer™ glass paint.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Iconic Glass Structures – The Great Glasshouse

/in , /by
Iconic Glass Structures – The Great Glasshouse

Iconic Glass Structures – The Great Glasshouse

The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales is the largest single-span glasshouse in the world. The structure is about 72,000 square feet, most of which is covered by the dome. The 785 panels in the glass dome are operable, and are computer-controlled to optimize solar heat gain for the thousands of endangered plant species inside.

Glasshouse is home to endangered plants

The Great Glasshouse is home to endangered species from six regions of the world, including North America, Australia, South Africa, South America, the Mediterranean and Europe. The Garden’s collection of Mediterranean plants is the largest in the world, outside of natural growth in the Mediterranean itself.

The Great Glasshouse was designed by Foster + Partners, an architectural design firm in the UK. The Great Glasshouse is built into the hills of Carmarthenshire, Wales, and rises among them. The dome is situated on a concrete foundation that is covered by turf. Underground pathways provide access to the dome and the public areas underneath.

The dome was built to be sustainable, and is heated in the winter with a wood-burning biomass furnace. The dome also features a rainwater collection system that supplies “gray water” for irrigation and for the facility’s restrooms. The septic waste is treated onsite and returned safely to the ground.

The frame of the Great Glasshouse is tubular steel, and the panels employ an aluminum glazing system. The central arches of the dome rise perpendicular to the base, and the side arches rise on progressively steeper angles to create the dome’s elliptical shape.

The Great Glasshouse is open year round. The climate inside the dome is controlled to match the natural environment of the plants inside. All of the plants inside the dome share similar environmental needs, but are grouped in sections, according to their places of origin.

The Great Glasshouse is one example of the power of glass in construction. If you’re looking for some glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Charles Stirton , via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – Farnsworth House

/in , /by
Iconic Glass Structures – Farnsworth House

Iconic Glass Structures – Farnsworth House

Periodically, we take a look at iconic glass structures. Today, we look at the Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. The Farnsworth House was designed in 1945 by Mies van der Rohe, but the house was not actually constructed until 1951. Between its design and construction, a model of the house was used as an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Glass and steel characteristic of modernism

The Farnsworth House was commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, for whom the house is named. The house, which appears to float on a was used as a private residence, until it was purchased in 2003 jointly by two historic preservation groups. The house currently operates as a museum.

Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect and is considered one of the founders of the modern architecture movement. He strove to create buildings that minimized the structural framework in order to improve the transition between the structure and its surroundings. Mies van der Rohe’s designs often incorporated glass and steel. The Farnsworth House has no interior walls, but it does have structures in the space that imply distinct areas. It also has full length draperies that provide privacy when desired.

The modernist movement followed the conclusion of World War I. Following the war, traditional classical architecture in Europe was unpopular because many people saw it as a reflection of Europe’s faltering class-based societies. Designers were looking for a style that complemented the industrial character of 20th century life, and the modernist style took root.

By the late 1930’s, Mies van der Rohe, who was the last director of the Bauhaus, closed it on the recommendation of the school’s faculty. The Nazis, who had risen to power in Germany, found that the Bauhaus was not sufficiently “German” and made it very difficult for the school to continue. Mies van der Rohe migrated to the United States and took commissions in the western United States and Chicago, where he was the head of the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Many of Mies van der Rohe’s works incorporate glass liberally, including Crown Hall on the IIT campus; IBM Plaza in Chicago; 860-880 Lakeshore Drive in Chicago; the Chicago Federal Center; the Seagram building in New York City, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

If you’d like some inspiration for your glass decorating projects, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: jalbertgagnier, via Flickr.com