Incorporating antique or new stained glass into your project's insulated glass unit? "Whatever next," I hear engineers the world over cry. But yes, it's a fact and has been for some time actually. Now, with the stunning revival of traditional stained glass, it's a fact that needs some hammering home.
Not so long ago, Stained glass, which had seen a residential rise in the late 1800s was deemed surplus to requirements. Outdated, old-fashioned, cold and travelling in the same direction as the good old cassette tape. Unlike the cassette tape, however, Stained Glass, given its sheer beauty, has taken on a more vinyl record approach to the whole situation. Standing within an industry panicked by thermal requirements and more intent on reaching numbers than good old-fashioned aesthetics and heart-warming craftsmanship, stained glass panels the world over have united and beat their collective tulip-clad chests and made themselves known.
Biased, I may very well be. I am a glass nerd after all. However, I feel I can make these sweeping statements given that I have had a majorly diverse glazing career operating as a glass and glazing manager and consultant in the high-rise facade industry. That's right, I've been one of those head-scratchers, determined to make the thermal numbers work. Stained glass has held and captivated people for hundreds and hundreds of years and yes while on its own, it is, of course, inferior thermally to its double and triple-glazed, pompous gas-filled cousins but a little-known fact is that coupled together, i.e., by encapsulating a stained glass panel within the air-space of a unit, we have a perfect storm!
MH.
