Light and Truth: Greener Interiors with Glass Partitions

Innovative applications for modular glass partitions, room dividers and doors provide effective pathways to modern interior trends.
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Sponsored by Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Co.
C.C. Sullivan

Unquantifiable benefits of modular glass partitions

According to architects and end-users, there are additional advantages for using modular glass partitions that are harder to measure or quantify. For example, the use of glass partitions has been shown to improve productivity by increasing occupant morale in office, laboratory and industrial settings. The guest or tenant experience in hotels and residential buildings can also benefit from the partitions when used effectively.

In addition, while construction quality can vary for built-in-place products such as simple gypsum-board walls with vision panels, the modular, factory-finished systems project a high-end appearance that befits today’s interiors – a modern, contemporary and clean look that many designers and end-users value.

Last, there is an argument to be made for visual openness in many interior settings. Glass walls can improve communications in a workplace or educational facility, and they offer ways to enhance security and safety. Their use in residences and hotels may have a similar effect.

Space planning and long-term use. These unquantifiable benefits help guide how to best use the glass partition systems to enhance building function and life-cycle value. In a multifamily building, the glass walls can help make the best use of typical units with small spaces – or large spaces with a single source of daylight.They are frequently used, for example, to create new rooms in loft apartments.Similarly, the partition systems can enhance spatial options and functionality in office structures.

One consideration is acoustic performance. While all modular glass partitionsreduce sound transmission, none of them are completely soundproof. Where sound reduction is a primary concern, 7mm laminated glass or similar is the most effective specification. In all cases, the metal-framed glass panels offer privacy and do reduce and minimize sound.

Construction flexibility.  On a more quantifiable level, the nonfixed, modular glass wall systems reduce the need for field dimensions, which often cause the architectural team to wait for the framing out of interiors to obtain precise measurements before fabricating casework, built-ins and the like, according to Franz.

The lead time for some fabricated items can be as long as 12-16 weeks, adding significantly to project schedules. “Fitting it down to the last inch takes time, and ways to avoid that are preferable,” says the architect.

Glass-and-metal partition systems also eliminate many of the negatives associated with drywall installation – a slow and disruptive process that causes dust and often requires temporary construction separations. In terms of sustainability, gypsum-board installations require multiple materials and on-site finishing, and they create construction waste. In addition to the disposal costs and variable labor expense, drywall partitions typically must meet local codes for electrical distribution systems, switches and outlets, a challenge obviated by factory-made, demountable partitions – electrical outlets are not even required.

Most significantly, the steel studs and drywall panels are a single-use proposition. Modular wall systems can be reused, promoting change and a culture of reuse and recycling.

Open – but not too open

People spend a lot of time indoors – in many cases, 23 hours a day or more. Recent studies have shown that the best interior environment must provide daylight and indoor air quality that is at least as good as outdoors. The seminal research by Heschong Mahone Group, for example, confirmed “the potential contributions of windows and daylight to improved performance by office workers,” as well as better test scores by students.  One study looked at 100 call-center workers at a call center, while another tracked the performance of 200 office workers by using cognitive assessment tests. The studies found conclusively that worker performance is improved by having a “better view out of a window,” where a larger view with more vegetation offers the greatest increase in productivity. The call-center workers processed calls 6% to 12% faster under the best conditions as compared to workers with no view at all.

If daylight, views and good indoor air quality have a direct impact on human performance, the case for interior glass partitions is as plain as day. Yet the benefit of purely open-plan officing is not quite as clear.

For example, one study from Australia showed that 84 percent of workers express a desire for enclosed offices. Open-plan environments are associated with stress, turnover, loss of privacy and turf battles, which can cause negative health effects, according to the Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management.

Using glass partitions and glass sliding doors, architects bring the best of both worlds to the workplace, hotel interiors and residential dwellings. The advantages of open plans still exist – more open communications, the ability to reconfigure work areas, increased daylight and less permanent construction. Yet the systems also provide the privacy, quiet and dedicated space that humans seem to need just as much

Chris Sullivan is principal of C.C. Sullivan, a communications consulting and marketing agency focused on architecture and building products.

 

The Sliding Door Company

The Sliding Door Company offers a variety of cutting-edge design solutions for home and office including sliding room dividers, closet doors, pocket doors, swing doors, stationary walls, loft dividers and office partitions. Products are recyclable and durable with an exclusive locking and roller system.

www.slidingdoorco.com/tradepro

 

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Originally published in November 2013

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