Modern interiors tend to be functional, sensible, and ergonomic. In practice, this means making the most of the limited space you’ve got, letting in as much natural light as your windows allow for, and using colors that have a soothing effect on your mood.
Replacing interior walls with sleek glass dividers can help you reach these and many other goals.
Here’s how.
How Glass Walls Combine Functionality and Style
While mostly suitable for spaces with open-plan layouts, glass walls are making their way into apartments and private houses — not the least thanks to a robust selection of designs, configurations, and materials utilized by their manufacturers.
Just recently, the global glass divider market has topped $4.3 billion and is expected to continue its growth at a steady 3% rate for the next five years.
There’s only one way to interpret this data: more companies and individuals acknowledge the transformative impact of glass panels on interior design and choose to incorporate dividers into their renovation projects.
There are several reasons for that:
- Flexibility. Whether you buy glass panels framed in metal or wood or opt for a frameless solution, giving your spaces a sci-fi look and feel, there’s no denying the fact that glass office walls are easier to install, move, and dismantle than ordinary interior walls. This allows offices and homeowners to experiment with their space layouts by creating additional rooms and separating private spaces from public areas — all while reducing their reliance on artificial lighting.
- Efficiency. While interior walls consume up to 7% of space in residential and commercial buildings, glass dividers are thinner and lighter. They can serve as full-fledged partitioning systems that segment spaces into well-defined areas, an important interior design element, or a viable alternative to swinging doors.
- Originality. Glass wall companies are ready to go the extra mile to create dividers that seamlessly blend into their customers’ interiors, regardless of how sophisticated and demanding their projects are. If you’re a fan of Scandinavian minimalism, you can opt for laconic frameless panels, either transparent, frosted, or tinted. Amateurs of country designs can select wood-framed systems, which give interiors a homey and relaxed aesthetics. You can also emphasize the uniqueness of your designs by combining glass panels with additional decorative elements, such as lights, blinds, and curtains.
Top 5 Benefits of Making Glass Panels Part of Your Interior
Now that you know how glass dividers blend functionality and aesthetics, transforming dull living and working spaces into modern-looking, stylish environments, let’s zoom in on the practical advantages of using partitions in homes and offices:
- Creating a sense of unity in open spaces. Almost 70% of US offices are open spaces. If you’ve ever worked in such an office, you know how noisy, uncomfortable, and unproductive such environments can be. In addition to the obvious downsides, like the easier spread of bacteria and viruses in colder seasons, there are more subtle discomforts associated with open-plan spaces, such as the inability to concentrate and the feeling of being watched by your colleagues. By enhancing your office with glass panels, you can give employees a sense of privacy while maintaining a sense of unity and team spirit in your company.
- Minimizing distractions at work. Speaking of noisy work environments, it’s worth mentioning that 59% of employees complain about noise pollution at work every single day. Even if you’re not operating drilling equipment, seemingly innocent chit-chat and buzzing noise coming from printers can at some point drive you mad. Glass dividers help bring down noise levels in offices, alleviating stress and helping your teams be more productive. You can further amplify the effect by choosing specific types of panels, such as those made of double-glazed glass.
- Filling spaces with light. Another reason to consider installing glass walls for home or office is a lack of natural light, which aggravates mental health problems — especially in northern countries. Partitions, even the ones incorporating frosted or opaque glass, do not block light like solid interior walls. This helps not only reduce reliance on artificial lighting but also boost your serotonin and vitamin D levels, improving your mood and productivity.
- Making the most of smaller living and working spaces. Considering the rising prices for commercial and residential real estate in the USA, it doesn’t come as a surprise that more firms and individuals tend to rent or purchase smaller properties. While certain interior design tricks, such as combining armless chairs with open-end tables and utilizing furniture as storage space, can surely help make extra room in your office or apartment, swapping solid walls for thin, transparent dividers can take your layout planning to a whole new level.
- Reducing renovation costs. An average American family spends as much as $22,000 on a single-home renovation project. Depending on the scale and complexity of the project, however, your budget may increase tenfold — particularly, if removing and replacing solid interior walls is involved. Glass dividers offer greater flexibility in terms of space redecoration, which allows property owners to renovate spaces more frequently while better controlling the associated expenses.
This list of benefits that glass walls bring to the table is by no means definitive.
However, it does prove the point we’ve made at the very beginning of the article: utilizing glass panels in interiors can help you meet the boldest design objectives — as long as you thoroughly plan your project, attempt to think out of the box, and partner with a reliable glass company.