We take glass for granted. Its presence is so common in daily life that we don’t even register that glass is what we touch when we use our cell phones, what we look through when we gaze out our windows, or what separates us from the open air in a forty-story skyscraper. More often than not, we barely know it’s there. However, when glass does something unexpected and magnificent, it has the power to instill awe and spark imagination. Glass is more than a rigid component of an industrial process. It has an inherent beauty that the right minds can use to create something special.
At W&W Glass, we take pride in glass as both a medium of function and design. We understand the beauty of translucent and opaque glass façades, whether it be with clean, straight boxes or gentle, sloping waves. Whatever project you are looking to undertake, we have the means of bringing out the beauty of glass to make it work for you.
Peter Ellis first recognized the architectural beauty of glass when he designed the Oriel Chambers building in 1864. Leveraging the ability of the glass to bring natural light deep into the building and provide an unprecedented view of the outside world, Ellis created the first building to feature a metal framed glass curtain wall.
While Ellis might have been overlooked by his contemporaries, the beauty of glass façades is thankfully not lost in the twenty-first century. As technology develops, the ability to create more intricate glass structures and increasingly more transparent entrances grows every day. By using Pilkington Planar point-supported glass structural systems, buildings like the Norfolk Cruise Terminal in Virginia provide a stunning aesthetic while simultaneously maintaining the building’s structural integrity and weatherability.
W&W Glass continuously pushes the boundaries of what we think glass can do. The structurally glazed tower at 400 Park Avenue South in NYC is the perfect example of what happens when unbridled architectural imagination is coupled with cutting edge innovation and system design. Beauty comes in many forms, and the sloped and jagged facades of the building are in a league of their own as it rises up like a gem out of the streets. The condominium owners certainly have a commanding view of the surrounding neighborhoods from this icon.
Not all glass has to redefine how we think of architecture in such drastic ways, however. The Gotham Center building in Long Island City, NY is a striking example of what glass can do for a corporate office building. By taking a more traditional box-style glass curtain wall structure and giving one side a smooth, sweeping curve, W&W Glass has elevated the beauty of the building into something you can’t help but take notice of. Sometimes all it takes is gentle rounding of the corners to redefine what may have otherwise been thought of as a rigid, block-like structure.
Glass has the power to alter how we see cityscapes, from the tallest, piercing skyscrapers to low-rise, high-end retail storefront facades. By leveraging the beauty of glass, W&W Glass can help create a project that is a stunning work of art that maintains, and even reflects, its functionality.
To see even more examples of the gorgeous aesthetics glass can create, make sure to check out our structural glass project portfolio.
Interested in making the beauty of glass work for you? Contact us today to get started with your project!
W&W Glass LLC is a family owned business with a 70-year history in the metal and glass industry, one of the largest metal and structural glass companies in the New York metropolitan area and the largest supplier of structural glass systems in the country. We have over two decades of experience in the design and installation of various building enclosure systems, including stick-built curtain walls, pre-glazed unitized curtain walls, Pilkington Planar structural glass facades and custom metal and glass enclosure systems. We install all of our work with our own dedicated union labor force. W&W is consistently the largest employer of glaziers in the NY metropolitan area.
