October 27, 2015

Innovative and Specialist Glazing For Care Homes

Written by Rebecca Clayton

"Homely" feel design achieved through specialist glazing for care homes using IQ's architectural glazing solutions

With more people living in care homes throughout the UK increased attention to detail is being paid to the design of new care establishments with various studies looking at factors to improve the quality of living that is afforded to the residents.

New research has established that if a care home has an ‘institutional feel’ residents can feel as if their environment is restrictive or confined. This has led to a wave of new care home designs that focus on residential design features for a ‘homely’ feel, and using specialist glazing for care homes is an excellent way to achieve this.

 

Natural Light in Care Home Design

A huge benefit of incorporating specialist glazing for care homes into new build care homes or care home extensions is the huge influx of natural light.

By using IQ's minimally framed and frameless glazing systems in the care home architectural design, natural light will be able to flow into the interior spaces without obstruction. 

Natural light is a vital part of any residential building design as it has been proven to have many benefits for a building's occupants, both physically and mentally. This includes helping to improve sleep, reduce stress and boost productivity. For elderly residents in care homes, having as much natural light as possible in their living spaces can massively improve their quality of life, and the easiest way to do this is through IQ's specialist glazing for care homes. 

 

Ventilation in Care Home Design

One of the main elements of maintaining a comfortable living temperature is adequate ventilation. The flow of air allows a cool summer breeze to enter the space and helps to prevent overheating. Preventing overheating in summer due to solar gain can also be done by specifying solar control glass within the specialist glazing for care homes. 

Temperature is not the only reason that adequate ventilation is vital in care home designs is important, high levels of ventilation also help to keep to air clean.

This is a factor which is always important in building design but even more so when you have a residential space filled with elderly people who likely have weaker immune systems or are already ill. 

Ventilation can be achieved with specialist glazing for care homes in many ways, with the simplest being incorporating opening elements such as slim sliding doors, slim casement windows or automated opening rooflight systems. 

 

Specialist Glazing at Godswell Park Care Home

The building design for care homes should look to maximise the natural light that enters the internal living spaces with Godswell Park being an excellent example.

The luxury care home in Oxfordshire was recently renovated with a new wing to increase the communal dining capacity. A new spacious hallway and the new dining area both benefit from IQ's specialist glazing for care homes, including walls of sliding glass, from IQ Glass.

Here we used our popular residential sliding glass door system, minimal windows, to enable the maximum amount of glass to be used within the elevation, for a large increase in natural light.

As access to the garden, where residents can relax or take part in outdoor activities, was required to be fully wheelchair accessible the minimal windows Slim Framed Sliding Glass Doors were the perfect option. 

The large format patio doors as the base of the sliding glass doors are completely flush and are certified for barrier-free access. Couple that with their shallow 13mm siding track they are signed off for wheelchair access and are fully accessible to residents with physical, sensory or cognitive impairments.

 

When looking at the architectural glazing solutions for your care home design contact IQ Glass for more information about what is available.