On Monday and yesterday, I installed four glass panels in a private residence in Edinburgh. The brief was to provide a ‘quietly classical design’ for the lobby glazing for this beautiful Georgian residence, which is being restored to its original use as a domestic dwelling, including extensive renovations and extensions to bring it into the 21st century. The client opted for dichroic glass, a very contemporary glass with metallic coating on its surface, made to refract the light. Its shimmering surface looks muted when in dull light, but bursts into life when the light hits it. The photographs taken are clearly taken on a busy site with unfinished woodwork, scaffolding and ladders but I hope to have some new images in the next month or two, taken when the site is finished.
The largest pane is 3m tall by 1.2 wide and weighs 230 kilos and took a team of six experienced glass fitters to haul it up the scaffolding with the help of a manual winch.
My favorite is however, the small door to the cloakroom, off the hall, which has got a frosted set of panels set into the traditional wooden door. Because of the muted light, the reflective qualities of the glass come out well.
The fan light and vestibule door have the same design as the cloakroom door but in clear glass and ‘floating’ on the clear pane of glass onto which it is bonded; there is an issue with the bonding, which the manufacturer and myself will now have to figure out how to resolve.
Glass projects such as these always throw up new surprises and the learning never ends…
However, the client and the architect were very happy with the result and service, which is all that matters.
