Lighten Up With Glass Floors
In a previous article I focused on indoor bridges,
many of which happened to use glass floors. Be they clear or
translucent, glass floors enable light to pass from one floor to the one
below, while also providing a visual connection between spaces. This
article looks more generally at glass floors, in bridges and in other
areas. Whatever the reasons for incorporating a feature such as this,
the effect is always dramatic.
As soon as glass is chosen as a
flooring material, the first question is, "What kind of glass?" Clear
glass gives views that might not be desired, so translucent glass is
often favored. This bridge illustrates what can follow from using
translucent glass: lighting that illuminates the floor and creates even
more drama.
This house in San Francisco by
John Maniscalco uses glass walkways adjacent to the stairs. With the
skylight located above the walkways, the light brought to the lower
levels is maximized.
This photo was taken one level
below the previous photo, making it apparent that the glass walkways are
stacked. Note that the lower level's glass floor is wider, and its
effects are visible in the next photo.
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On the lowest floor, the glass
floor helps bring plenty of light to the space. It presents a soft glow
that echoes the plane of the white drywall ceiling around it.
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Maniscalco used a glass bridge in
another project, this one also located below a skylight. Note the green
color of the glass, indicating the iron content naturally in the
material. This is often undesirable in such an application, but low-iron
glass, as the white-gray glass is called, comes with a cost premium.
Here is one more Maniscalco
project that also places a glass floor under a skylight. It just makes
sense to tie the two together vertically, so they work in concert.
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Glass floors need not be limited to
walkways or bridges. This square patch of glass floor helps bring light
to the library below.
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This view shows how the
cross-shaped structural members supporting the glass give the ceiling a
strong character ... and an added sense of security.
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Here is a library that doubles as a
stairway. The tall bookshelves run across multiple floors off the stair
landing. The glass floor gives this wall of books some cohesion.
This view shows the narrow piece of glass off the wood landing.
And a last view positions the
viewer on the glass floor, illustrating how it relates to the window
next to it. The glass floor also provides visibility of the green roof, a
nice touch.
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In this multistory high-rise loft, a
glass floor is used to bring additional light to the space below it.
Sitting on a chair on a glass floor must take some getting used to!
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This view from below shows some of
the light coming from above, but also how objects touching the glass are
in focus but those farther away are blurry.
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This is probably the craziest
application of a glass floor I found on Houzz, reminiscent of Philippe
Starck's bar at the Hudson Hotel in New York. In both cases, a glass
floor is combined with a whimsical design and some neoclassical
elements. This house is interesting because of the space it overlooks.
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It's a wine cellar, a
cathedral-like space in acrylic that glows blue. I could see the
homeowner realizing after this was installed, "I need a glass floor to
show off this space!"
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