Walls are one of the largest elements of the interior. Adding design, integrated throughout areas with required wall protection, gives walls an additional purpose while expanding their longevity and enhancing protection against damage. Designers can now incorporate high-end, custom, and digital artwork optimized for protective wall products. Durable wall panels are typically used in high-traffic spaces prone to damage and deterioration. Specifying printed wall protection provides not only a protective wallcovering that can be applied directly to the wall at virtually any size but also becomes a perfect host for powerful visual design. When the graphic is back-printed onto clear sheet, like polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), the custom artwork, photography, or image remains vivid and will not get scratched over time. New digital imaging and printing techniques have enabled endless possibilities when it comes to adding art to architectural products, including wall coverings, panels, shades, and signage. Both stock photography and original artwork from artists can be showcased through architectural products. Through this medium, art is no longer something relegated to hang on the wall as an ornament; it can be transformed into something that is ultimately functional and unlimited by size. Complete customization enables architects and designers to create unique, one-of-a-kind products that produce an unforgettable experience for building occupants. The colors, material, textures, and impact-resistance levels of these products also offer designers and facility staff limitless options to enhance the aesthetics of a facility’s interior, while delivering much-needed protection to the edifice itself.

In areas that do not need enhanced protection, printed wall art offers the same range of completely customizable design options, enabling the professional to choose impactful photography, logos, or colors to align with the brand and continue the design scheme. Additional architectural materials, such as printed signage, allow art and color to be further integrated in creative ways throughout the space. These include printed cubicle curtains, window treatments, and shower curtains, made from polyester, vinyl, and acrylic, all of which can be combined with digital print capabilities.

Photo courtesy of Inpro

The new diversity of colors, material, and textures of impact-resistance products offer designers and facility staff limitless options to enhance the aesthetics of a facility’s interior.

Understanding the Power of Visual Experience

Using art within a building creates inspiration, fosters education, promotes wayfinding and can bolster branding. Through the careful selection of products and materials to carry forward their artistic vision, architects, designers, and facility managers can create an artistically integrated space. Because of innovations in digital printing capabilities, artistic possibilities for a design are limited only by the designer's imagination. Art, printed on an architectural product, can bring a brand, an idea, or even a feeling to life.

Using art in design has benefits beyond aesthetics. Beauty in architecture nourishes the human emotional brain argues Semir Zeki, Professor of Neuroaesthetics at University College London. Engaging with art is essential to the human experience, write Brian Kisida and Daniel H. Bowen. “Almost as soon as motor skills are developed, children communicate through artistic expression. The arts challenge us with different points of view, compel us to empathize with ‘others,’ and give us the opportunity to reflect on the human condition. Empirical evidence supports these claims: Among adults, arts participation is related to behaviors that contribute to the health of civil society, such as increased civic engagement, greater social tolerance, and reductions in other-regarding behavior.”¹⁰

Imagery is also a highly effective strategy for increasing comprehension, reports The University of Kansas Department of Special Education. Imagery strategies involve activating the memory by taking what is to be learned and creating meaningful visual, auditory, or kinesthetic images of the information.¹¹ Findings from Houston’s Arts Access Initiative provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development in children. School students exposed to art experienced a 3.6 percentage point reduction in disciplinary infractions, an improvement of 13 percent of a standard deviation in standardized writing scores, and an increase of 8 percent of a standard deviation in their compassion for others.¹²

Photo courtesy of CRL

Sophisticated glazed designs make a visual statement using remarkable simplicity.

Photo courtesy of CRL

Movable walls open a floor plan to create multi-functional and dynamic interior spaces. They also promote daylight diffusion within interiors, which can help with employee morale and reduce dependency on artificial lighting.

Adding imagery within a design brings continuity throughout the building and guides how people interact with the space. Wayfinding is particularly important in complex built environments, such as urban centers, healthcare settings, educational campuses, and transportation facilities.¹³ As architectural environments become more complicated, people need visual cues such as maps, directions, and symbols to help guide them to their destinations. In these often high-stress environments, effective wayfinding systems contribute to a sense of well-being, safety, and security.¹⁴

The innovative fusion allowed by advances in printing technology, therefore, incorporates high-impact durability with customizable, inspired designs that can transform any space both visually and functionally.

SPECIFYING GLASS TO ACHIEVE CLEAR DESIGN GOALS

"When designing interiors, particularly commercial, it's important to understand the needs of not only the owner but the end occupants," said Mark Suehiro, product technical director at CRL. "When the occasion arises, specifying the right interior glass partition systems can go a long way in promoting employee collaboration and occupant morale, all while meeting an open, contemporary design intent."

Continuous and innovative advancement in glazed partitions can deliver exceptional, customized office partition walls for any design, including scalable fixed and moveable glass wall systems. Hardware innovations include an advanced soft-brake mechanism for sliding doors, which has reduced the two-bodied double soft-brake system found in typical sliding glass doors to one component. This re-engineered soft brake is also scaled down to a compact 16-15/16-inch length for more robust performance and increased durability.

Interior glass partition walls are a stylish and practical way to elevate interiors. Glass partition walls allow light to flow throughout the space and promote transparency, and at the same time, maintain the quiet areas an office needs to be most productive. The glass selection can also maximize daylight diffusion while eliminating glare. Whether ensuring abundant natural light for all employees or creating an open conference room to encourage the exchange of ideas, glass office partitions create a customizable, bright, and productive space.

A freestanding glass wall solution seamlessly defines interiors and can be adapted to the specific needs of a project. Numerous configurations allow architects and glaziers to use any combination of end posts, center posts, and corner posts. Other modern glazed partitions utilize concealed glass channels and no vertical extrusions to produce expansive, visually unbroken glass spans that are conducive to dynamic workspaces. These glass partition walls can pair with other interior systems and commercial glass door hardware. Optional pivoting and sliding doors are available with a wide array of door handles such as ladder pulls and deadbolt handles. Generally, these systems offer a high level of customization.

Operable glazed doors are sometimes designed with a low-profile door frame and vertical extrusions, setting them apart from traditional framed partition systems. This leads to greater visibility and daylight diffusion and less visual disruption. These doors use height-adjustable hinges that do not require drilling. Door-to-wall and door-to-glass frame sets are available, along with unique floating door transoms that can produce floor-to-ceiling glass spans.

Glass type is typically laminated or monolithic. Standard sizes include 5/16", 3/8", and 1/2" monolithic tempered glass, or 9/16” laminated glass. Glass panels using 1” insulating glass provide sound attenuation for enhanced privacy in applications such as government buildings, law firms, executive offices, human resource departments, and conference rooms.