October 27, 2015

Grand Designs Houses that IQ Glass Worked On

Written by Rebecca Clayton

Grand Designs Glass Wall Rusty Metal House
The Grand Designs Glaziers

A recent project by IQ Glass was recently featured on Grand Designs. The contemporary new build house was constructed on an old quarry site by the side of a river in the entrance to Lewes.

The 'Rusty Metal House' featured on Grand Designs with architectural glass by IQ Glass The 'Rusty Metal House' featured on Grand Designs with architectural glass by IQ Glass

The bold architectural design, by Sandy Rendel, included large glass elevations on the lower floor with an unconventional building cladding of rusted steel to the upper floor and roofs. The contrast of rusted steel with full glass walls below create the illusion that the upper floors are floating.

IQ Glass installers on site in Lewes, as seen on Grand Designs IQ Glass installers on site in Lewes, as seen on Grand Designs

 

All the glazing on the ground floor was designed in detail and installed by IQ Glass, including the large elevation of fixed, frameless structural glass that faced the river wall.

The installation of this riverside frameless glass was not as simple as was indicated on the programme, although the difficult installation conditions were briefly mentioned.

The IQ Glass installers using a wire line for safety on the difficult river side site The IQ Glass installers using a wire line for safety on the difficult river side site

 

As the house was built directly on the side of the river bank there was no room to build out any boarding for our installers to safely walk on, instead they had to install pieces of frameless glass that were nearly 2.9m high, by hand, with only a narrow strip of external walking space available.

To ensure the safety of our installers on such a difficult installation site ourselves and the contractor installed a wire line across the river bank to which our installers were attached, to provide the necessary safety for our installers on site.

Internal views showing the great views afforded by the use of IQ's slim framed glazing Internal views showing the great views afforded by the use of IQ's slim framed glazing

On either side of the frameless glass wall IQ’s slim framed minimal windows sliding glass doors were used, to continue the slim framed appearance of the structural glass wall and provide access to the small external patio areas.

A Vitra Pivot was also used within the small study area to provide the room with natural light in a slim framed aluminium pivoting element.

IQ Glass Products Used on Grand Designs

minimal windows Sliding Glass Doors

Frameless Structural Glass

Vitra Pivot

The IQ Glass glazing elements used on this Grand Design The glazing elements used on this Grand Design

This is not the first Grand Designs project that IQ Glass have worked on, in 2011 our glazing was also used on the Kensington project where architect, Ian Hogarth, attempted to build a large family home on a small end mews plot.

If you are planning your own Grand Design be sure to contact IQ Glass to discuss your glazing design.

Russell Garden Mews featured in Grand Designs in 2011 Russell Garden Mews featured in Grand Designs in 2011