Glass walls have been used in skyscrapers for decades.
Glass wall effects can turn your home into a more interesting place. Some people might think of glass as something that is expensive or likely to break. However, if you use glass in certain aspects of construction and decor, you will love the ways that glass makes your home shine.
Active Walls
If you want to create glass walls for the exterior structure of the home, you can build active walls. A double layer of glass will collect solar energy or energy from the sun. This wall effect also helps to manage heating and cooling costs because when the interior envelope temperature of your home is realized, the glass walls will start to reflect thermal energy, which means you build with an exterior structural material with two purposes.
Glass Picture Wall
You can also use low-emissivity (low-e) glass in a floor-to-ceiling window that doubles as a wall. You might use this as an alternative to a picture window overlooking the backyard or a side garden. Low-emissivity glass reflects the sun's rays and minimizes the amount of thermal energy that heats up your home's building envelope. Let light enter the glass picture wall without overheating the exterior.
Curved Glass
Create a different kind of natural light effect for a breakfast room or even a wall in your bathroom with a wall of curved glass. This wall effect is ornate and pricier than flat glass walls but allows a lot of natural light to enter a home with southern exposure. If you have an extensive pool and patio area or outdoor landscaping in the backyard, the curved glass also brings nature into any room on the home's rear side.
Interior Wall
You can also use a glass wall as an interior wall to provide a view from one room into another. Enclose a formal dining room with clear glass walls, leaving enough room for a French door. This dining room space offers views of the other living areas, including the living and family rooms. Glass creates an illusion of an open floor plan even if a room is divided with this kind of interior wall.
Tags: your home, curved glass, dining room, glass walls, glass walls