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Product category: Glass
News Release from: Daedalian Glass | Subject: Glass design
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial Team on 23 February 2007

Hotel industry keeping pace with glass
design

Sue Burbridge, head of interior design at the Marston Hotels Group, says they are using glass much more, usually making it an integral part of a theme.

Davia Walmsley, Daedalian Glass In my opinion the aesthetic use of glass in the hotel industry has to do one of two things

Either it's part of the building structure, or it's sculptural and the design needs to be timeless as far as possible.

Either way it has to last a long time.

Alternatively, it's part of a theme and therefore, may be changed in five or ten years' time as part of a refurbishment.

Certainly, I'd maintain we are at an exciting point in the use of glass as a distinctive part of hotel decor.

Sue Burbridge, who is head of interior design at the Marston Hotels Group, supports this : We're using glass much more now than even five years ago, usually making it an integral part of a theme," she says".

"At the Nottingham Belfry, for example, we have three decorative glass panels depicting a naval theme, reflecting Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.

"Located in the 'break out' area of the hotel's conference facilities, the three panels - each 2.5m square - are wall mounted in dark wood frames".

"In a sense they displace wallpaper and present an eye-catching focal point greeting delegates as they exit their meetings for refreshments".

"Each panel depicts an abstract theme of medals, buttons, navigational aids, ships' masts, pennants and rigging of warships of the Napoleonic War period, etched onto an iron-free 12mm toughened glass, which was also sandblasted to make the surface non-reflective".

"In contrast, we've used glass panels in our Stratford Manor Hotel, but with an open-weave fabric laminated between two sheets of glass, while at Hellenden Lakes a coloured glass wall divides the front reception from the hotel's 'back office' admin area".

Technology has made cutting templates and individual shapes so much easier and more accurate.

Bonding, gluing and laminating are advanced to a degree that they can be confidently used outside in all weathers.

Colour is making a growing impact, with silk screening being replaced by new bonding agents that ensure the colour remains true, doesn't scratch off and resists weathering for many years after installation.

True, there is still some resistance to bonding processes because current techniques have a relatively short history.

As a process it goes back maybe 40 years, but technology has moved on and if you stick rigidly to the manufacturers' instructions the end result is invariably successful.

We certainly have had no complaints (so far!).

Overall I see the hotel industry, as a whole, becoming much more adventurous and looking to glass as an aesthetic addition in growing numbers.

Sue Gloyens, meanwhile, who is head of design at Syntax UK, has worked on a number of hotel spas, where she finds glass is now used to comfortably overcome privacy issues.

She welcomes the techniques that now enable glass to be customised : " We have gravitated to some extent towards the use of colour and the more soothing atmosphere this can create," she says".

"Colour used with kiln cast coloured glass, in particular, works well, especially with light filtering through it to create all manner of effects".

"These effects can be different depending on whether the light is natural or artificial".

A recent project in which Daedalian and Syntax worked together is at the Aghadoe Heights Hotel in Killarney.

Syntax had previously worked on updating the hotel's spa and was retained as design consultant on the phase II refurbishment of some of the hotel's public areas.

Daedalian interpreted Syntax's initial design to produce a dramatic glass 'window' set in the roof, complementing two back-lit wall-mounted features that reflect the drama of the surrounding countryside.

Daedalian has also been responsible for a series of room divider panels in the hotel restaurant featuring its recently launched Designer Range, pattern S0003.

The roof feature picks up light from the outside of the building, providing a pool of light at the top of the stairs rising from the main reception area.

The light reflects through three panes, set in a 2.5m sq.cavity, and featuring blue and amber sandblasted abstract designs on 6mm laminated toughened glass.

On the stairway are the two wall features set in stainless steel light boxes, one 2.3m and the other 2.5m high.

At the front of each the steel has been cut away in another abstract design, in which are set pieces of 6mm toughened blue float glass.

This is fused with irregular shaped irridised glass, to produce a very subtle lighting on the stairs that permeates through the glass and also appears as a halo around the edges of the stainless steel casings.

In the hotel restaurant Daedalian's Designer Range S0003 is prominently featured.

This is an opaque stripe effect with serrated edges, which is equally decorative whether fitted horizontally or vertically.

Each pane is 900mm x 2305mm high and set within a wooden framework, both are then mounted on a clear glass structural panel, four of which come together in the form of a room divider.

Generally speaking there's agreement that the knowledge gap is closing and clients and designers are much more on the same wavelength now".

""Although, I guess designers are still driving the use of glass," says Sue Gloyens, "its use is accepted much more now, as clients appreciate the incredible versatility of the material." Sue Burbridge sees it very much as a two-way thing, with architects and designers much better educated both in terms of the design potential, but also the characteristics of glass as a material and the ways in which it can be formed".

"The outcome is that everyone is bringing much better informed ideas to the discussion".

"This ultimately leads to highly creative ideas sessions," she says, "fired by an appreciation of the many ways it can be used - in windows, as room dividers, as wall panels, for furniture - even as flooring in some instances".

I go along with that and like to think the drive is from the glass industry and designers like ourselves.

There are a lot of people in the industry now who are very experimental.

This country has come on in leaps and bounds both in terms of design and techniques, and architects and designers are rising to the challenge we present.

In addition, guests react well to the many effects possible with glass - its clarity, the many designs possible through sandblasting, the increased use of colour and the exciting creations now coming through with the use of fused glass.

I must confess to a personal preference for fused glass, with its many possibilities of combining cast glass, with polishing and then bonding.

In particular, it can accentuate differences in lighting, whether natural or artificial, making a striking addition to hotel decor in almost every situation.

Of course, with surface treatments like Ritec's Clearshield - something we use extensively - while the glass still needs cleaning, it is much easier to clean and retains its pristine sheen.

In particular, this is a tremendous boon where glass is used as an exterior design feature.

Ironically, even though we decry them sometimes, I give a lot of credit to the many 'makeover' shows there are on television now.

There's no doubt they have expanded peoples' minds and opened them up to the possibilities of all manner of materials - not least, glass.

While they may use Perspex or heavy gauge plastic, the logical extrapolation is to translate this use into glass.

In many instances we have found - and the hotel industry is no exception - that initiating designs and supplying them as samples to clients and potential clients, sparks off a better appreciation of the potential of glass.

This, in turn, can spark an entirely separate idea from the interior designer, who then brings it to the glass company to see if it's feasible.

It's a snowball effect, and even though the response may not be immediate it's surprising how often an idea has its roots in a sample prepared some time before.

Just returning to education in the possibilities and feasibility of glass.

I believe quite strongly that the whole subject could become part of the CPD (continuous professional development) movement.

It would help to create an approach to rationalising whether or not an idea or design is likely to work; the potential of glass in given situations; and how to think 'Glass' and how to work with glass designers from start to finish on a project.

Budget inevitably plays a key role and let's not hide the fact that glass can be a relatively expensive medium if it's going to be exciting and do its job in the way the designer wants.

The hotel industry - certainly in our experience - has an appreciation of glass to such an extent that budgets are invariably set at a realistic level.

As a result some of the best and most creative use of glass can be found in hotels across the world.

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