Glass floors, counters, stairs — New design trend introduces glass everywhere

Glass producers know that the industry has expanded far beyond glass for windows and doors. This is especially true today where, according to the March 2017 issue of Glass magazine, technology is allowing designers to use glass in more design-forward applications such as floors, stairs, walls, and counters. This isn’t just a matter of using glass for more unexpected design elements, but producers are also experimenting with technologies that allow glass to capture the look of other building materials, such as marble, stone, or even wood. These are exactly the kind of sophisticated finishes that A+W software products help bring to life.

The Glass article showcases examples from all around the world that exemplify this growing trend. They include:

• A private home in Italy that features an entire stoneglass exterior.
• A ‘virtual elevator lobby’ in Dallas that has a wall cladding of quarter-inch Starphire glass backpainted white.
• A home in Grapevine, Texas that has a decorative shower panel of six-millimeter, tempered Starphire glass digitally printed on the surface and backpainted with a pearlescent white.
• A home in Williamsburg, Virginia with 800 square feet of glass flooring with a light texture on one surface and a glowing white metallic finish on the other, glass panels on the walls and 1.5-inch thick glasstop counters.
• The Westfield Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport that has glass rails and backlit glass stairs.

For the full gallery of examples (there are many!), click here.