The Importance of Glass in Interior Design

How your glazing choices can impact the overall interior design of a home

The importance of natural light in architectural designs is amongst the highest priority when starting a new build or renovation project. There are endless advantages to specifying large elevations of glass, including reducing the CO2 emissions of a home. Equally as important within interior design, glazing choices can set the tone to enhance a number of interior design schemes.

Natural Light

Contemporary kitchen renovation with 3D frameless window

There are a number of health benefits that come with natural light, including enhanced wellness and productivity. Interior design schemes often strive to merge indoor and outdoor areas, to expand the useable space of a property, simultaneously introducing an abundance of natural light into the internal living spaces. Indoor-outdoor living has been a growing trend for many years, with modern glazing solutions helping homeowners forge a strong bond with their outdoor surroundings.

The past year has taught us to enjoy and make the most of our garden spaces, bridging the gap between the two differing environments. When natural elements are brought inside the home, peaceful environments are created. There are a number of ways to include glazing when planning the interior scheme of a home, utilizing both external and internal glazing systems.

A terraced London home featuring a large wall made up of bespoke tall sliding glass doors looking in to a brightly lit minimal interior As leaders in the architectural glazing landscape, IQ Glass has developed numerous luxury glazing solutions designed to enhance modern interior design. The interior design can draw upon the outside world as a visual or to set the tone of the internal environment. Oversized glazing will gain the most natural light, whilst offering a clear, blank canvas for the interior design to stem from. When specifying oversized panes of glass, IQ Glass can provide slim framed or completely frameless systems, allowing the glass to be the primary feature.

Glass Walls

slim sliding glass doors to luxury new build

Structural glass knows no limitations on size or shape, with our in-house developed Invisio system granting the ability to bring any vision to life. You can use structural glass to fill any bespoke shape or sized opening or create entire walls of frameless glass for the most minimal interior design. The key advantage of using structural glass throughout your interior design is the lack of framework, removing practical barriers that could occur with different building material. Creating a sense of continuity through horizontal design, glass walls are perfect for creating the illusion of a larger interior space.

Within glass wall designs, slim framed sliding doors can be integrated. These systems are installed with the head and base frame concealed in the building finishes, for a minimal finish that allows the systems to merge into the frameless glass wall designs. Alternatively, these systems can reach impressive sizes and can be used to create a moving glass wall effect. The flush threshold detail of our sliding door systems allows the interior design to flow beyond the internal space, feeding the sense of continuity that interior designers strive to achieve.

Internal Glazing

Slim framed steel sliding doors with art deco glazing bars

As well as external glazing solutions, internal glazing can be used to enhance a number of interior design schemes. Utilising the same systems on the external face of a property creates a coherent overall design, allowing the interior and exterior design to flow seamlessly into one another. When specified internally, our glazing systems do not have to take thermal properties into consideration and can therefore be more cost-effective.

Interior designers are often brought into renovation projects to transform previously dark or unused spaces, such as stairwells or narrow hallways. In spaces like these, the addition of glazing can vastly transform the whole ambience of the space. IQ Glass can design strip rooflights to fit perfectly into a narrow room design, or corner to corner glazing to create brightly lit staircases.

There is a range of internal door solutions, from sliding to pivot doors, suitable for enhancing modern interior design schemes. One interior design trend that is set to stay is zoning within the home, creating dedicated zones to suit different household needs. Broken plan interior schemes are taking over as the most desired layout for new build projects, utilizing internal glazing systems to create flexible solutions such as pocket door configurations. A sliding pocket door is designed to offer the most minimal approach, sliding into a hidden wall cavity to reveal a completely open doorway whilst providing the option for privacy when closed.

Ventilation and Thermal Performance

Minimal sliding glass doors to modern kitchen

Some other factors to consider are the ventilation and thermal performance of internal living spaces, as this is just as important in the interior design as aesthetics. Interior designers will consider these properties when creating any space and it is important to ask your chosen glazier about these properties. Incorporating opening elements into the design adds a natural airflow and ventilation, particularly important in high moisture zones of the house such as the kitchen or bathroom. All of our glazing systems are fully thermally broken, to ensure a comfortable living temperature is achieved no matter what the outside temperature is.

Incorporating hidden technical solutions in your glazing, such as heated glass, can also enhance interior design schemes by helping homeowners to declutter their spaces for the most minimal approach. Acting as an invisible heat source, heated glass can be used as the sole heat source in any internal space and eliminates the need for additional radiators or space heaters in residential settings.

Biophilic Design

Slim sliding glass doors to internal double height open air garden courtyard

Lastly, biophilic design is an ever-growing trend in interior design, recognized for its ability to forge a strong connection to nature. Typically, biophilic interior design schemes will use natural materials and colour schemes throughout the furniture choices, to draw similarities with nature. Large elevations of glass are a popular choice for biophilic interior designs, as this allows natural light to flow into a space whilst granting views of the outside environment.

With years of knowledge and hands-on experience incorporating glazing into interior design-focused projects, IQ Glass are on hand to answer any questions about your next project. Talk to a member of the team and learn how our glazing solutions can enhance your interior design.

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